Harry Daniels and the Order of Shadows
by blade625
Summary: Harry is the older twin brother of Christopher Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. After that Halloween, his parents forget about him in favor of Chris. After he overhears his parents talking about doing something terrible to him, he runs. He becomes Harry Daniels
1. Chapter 1

A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.

A/n 2 - this is my first fic, so any help on improving future fics will be greatly appreciated.

Chapter 1

5 year old Harry James Potter, older twin brother to the Boy-Who-Lived, Christopher Charlus Potter, sat in his room in Potter Manner, waiting until he was sure that no one was still up in the house. He was doing this for one simple reason, he didn't get any dinner. His parents had forgotten him... again. Not that it mattered much, his parents had done it before and would do it again. The only problem was that if he got caught sneaking around at night he would be in trouble, his _father_, and he used that term loosely, would force him back to his room and lock him in until morning, if he didn't forget.

Harry's life hadn't been like this the first 15 months or so, it was only after Halloween 1981 that his life started going down hill. That was the night that his brother was chosen as the great "Boy-Who-Lived". Harry knew different. He may not look it, but Harry was amazingly smart. He had perfect recall and could remember everything in his short life. This was because Harry's magic was different than almost everyone else. It affected him physically. He learned at a very young age that he could manipulate his magic to enhance his body. It wasn't that his magic was different per say, it was just that he learned to use it in a different way. Even without his magic, Harry was a brilliant child. The way that he learned to use his magic allowed him to use wandless magic as easily as the typical magic user uses a wand.

It was for this reason that Harry knew that his brother wasn't the "Boy-Who-Lived". He was. He remembered that night like it was yesterday.

_Flashback_

A man with red eyes walked into his and his brother's room and pointed a wand at his brother. Little Harry had a bad feeling as the stranger said something odd and a green light came out of the wand and raced towards his little brother. Harry reacted instinctively and reached out to the green light and made it change direction, back to the stranger with red eyes. He watched as the man's eyes widened and he screamed before he blew up and all that was left, which looked like a ghost, left soon after. He was really tired and barely noticed an odd cut on his brother's cheek that looked like a sideways V, from a piece of the crib hitting him, he didn't even notice the stinging pain on his own forehead as he slipped off to sleep wondering where his parents were and where the rat man was that was supposed to be watching them.

_End Flashback_

That was the night that everything changed in Harry's life. He remembered as he woke up the next morning and his parent were fussing over his brother and didn't even notice him until he started to make noise. From there, things got worse until finally they stopped paying attention to him at all and doted on Chris. Harry knew that they hadn't stopped loving him anymore, they just sort of... forgot about him, in favor for his brother.

Harry got really good at manipulating his magic at that point and taught himself to read so he could learn new things in the family library. He tried to impress his parents with the things he learned but they didn't seem to care. All they cared about was Chris. He would do magic and try to get their attention and they always thought that it was his brother doing it, he didn't even try to correct his parents as he got older, he knew they would just tell him to go away and stop bothering his brother.

That was another thing that set him apart from his brother, because he could control his magic better than most, he never had incidents of accidental magic. He was positive that his parents thought he was a squib or barely above one.

Finally Harry snapped out of his thoughts and felt that it was safe to get something to eat. He sneaked out of his room and used magic to silence himself. He made it to the landing on the second story before he heard voices. He was ready to dash back to his room when he stopped and heard his parents and the old man, Dumdlefore or something, he didn't know because the man never really talked to him or introduced himself. The few times he did speak with Harry, the man just asked where his parents or twin were. Harry and Chris were easy to tell apart, Chris had dark red hair, like their mother, and hazel eyes, whereas Harry had jet black hair and the greenest eyes anyone had seen, with flecks of gold in them.

Curious as to what the man was doing here so late, he got closer and heard that they were talking about him and his brother.

He heard his father say, "But professor, will it really do any good? I mean he hasn't done any magic at all. No accidental magic since he was born."

The professor said, "Yes James I believe it will. He is magical, I can say that for sure. His name is down at Hogwarts, it just maybe that he has very little of it. Anything that can help young Christopher will be good in the long run. You know the prophesy, only Christopher can defeat Voldemort. All three of us know that he isn't gone, he will return and we must be ready for him. That means the chosen one must ready as well. It is for the greater good that this must be done."

Lily finally said something, "Are we even sure this will work? I mean, like James said, Harry hasn't shown many signs of magic. Even if he does have magic, what if it is so small that it doesn't do any good? I agree that the sacrifice must be made for both of them to live through this, but what if it isn't enough?"

The professor sighed, "I agree that the possibility is there but what else is there for us to do? The ritual can only be done with those that have a close family bond and you two are his parents and among the best fighters the light side has. For the greater good young Harry must have his magic, however small, transferred to his brother to help him defeat Lord Voldemort. This could be the 'power he knows not' portion of the prophesy."

James sighed in resignation, "Okay, we will bring them to the castle towards the end of the week. Afterwards, we will probably have to place Harry in an orphanage so that he doesn't have to grow up being the squib brother to the Boy-Who-Lived. It would just fill him with jealousy."

"No!" Lily said angrily. "We are already taking his magic away, we can't send him away as well. That is being to cruel. He is our child and he will stay with us."

"But Lils, I already disinherited him so that Chris would be Lord Potter if something were to happen to us. That is the same as disowning him. I even made it so that it couldn't be reversed so that if I were captured the Death Eaters couldn't use me to change it and kidnap Harry and use him to get the Potter fortune to use against us. After the ritual I will go down to Gringotts and empty his trust vault, explaining that we found out he is a squib." James said.

Lily shook her head, "It doesn't matter, the least we can do is keep him with us. We can send him to a muggle school and he could do something in that world. Besides, people will understand the disinheritance and we can explain away him being a squib because he has never done any accidental magic."

Harry had heard enough. They were going to take away his magic and were going to be _merciful_ enough not to send him away, but make him live with magic all around him as a reminder of what he had lost. As if that would get them to pay more attention to him. He let a few tears fall as he hastily made his way back to his room. As he packed what few belongings he had, he thought about what he had to do. He knew he couldn't stay there and while he had no where to go, he knew he had to get away. He knew he didn't have any money... but Chris did. He finished throwing his stuff in a bag, he packed a few books on magic and after a few seconds of thought, he made his way to the library and quickly skimmed through a few books on Goblin, trying to understand a little about their customs. He quickly understood that they just wanted respect and to be treated like equals. He had watched other witches and wizards treat them, so he knew what NOT to do, he read a bit more and quickly understood how to greet them. After that he made his way to Chris' room and silently opened the door and found his twin snoring away the night. He made his way over to his brother's closet and grabbed the money sack he knew was there. He knew his brother wouldn't miss it, he would think he just misplaced it and get more from their parents. Once back in his room, he quickly gathered his few belongings and looked around his room to make sure he had everything.

"Goodbye" He silently said, while thinking of his Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony. They had been nice to him for a while but eventually they too fell into the routine of only paying attention to Chris and overlooking himself. Uncle Moony still remembered him on his birthdays though, but because he didn't have a lot of money he always bought Chris a present and not Harry. This didn't bother Harry at all, he understood that he didn't want grief with his only friends and he more than made it up to Harry by simply remembering it was his birthday too and spending a little time with him.

Still he would miss them, if only for the fact that they lasted to longest. With that he turned and disappeared without a sound; the only disturbance was the space around him warped slightly. He had learned the easy way to Apparate a few months before, though he didn't really think it was Apparating. It didn't feel like that which he read about. He called it "shifting", because it felt like the ground shifted from one spot to another. He just wanted to be somewhere else and his magic did the work.

He reappeared in Diagon Alley and made his way up to the white building, it was fairly late and so there weren't many people in the alley. Once at the entrance to the bank, he bowed to the Goblin guards. They bowed back at him with surprised expressions. Once inside, he made his way to a teller and waited until recognized.

Finally the Goblin grunted and motioned him forward, "State your business!"

Harry bowed and looked the goblin straight in the eye and said, "I wish to speak with someone concerning my family's vaults." and after thinking for a moment, added, " Also I would like an inheritance test done."

The goblin was surprised at the young boy's manners. He nodded and closed his window and motioned for Harry to follow.

As they walked he explained, "No one is here at this time for either of those departments, but you have shown respect and honor that not many wizards do, so the Bank manager may decide to take care of your requests if he chooses to. If not, you will have to come back in the morning."

Harry nodded his understanding and they walked on in silence. Upon coming to a door the Goblin knocked and they heard a voice within beckon them in.

When he steeped inside the room, Harry saw another goblin sitting behind a desk signing various forms.

He looked up and said, "Teller Fistslam, what is the problem?"

Fistslam bowed and replied, "Master Ragnok, this human child wishes to speak to someone about his family vaults and wishes an inheritance test to be done on him."

Ragnok looked at Harry with critical eyes and grunted, "Why have you brought him to me? There isn't anyone in those departments at this time."

Fistslam replied, "This is true, however he has shown respect and honor and I thought you would want to talk to him first, before I sent him away."

Ragnok peered at Harry again and grunted at him, then motioned for Harry to take a seat.

Before doing so, Harry turned to Fistslam, bowed and said, "Thank you Teller Fistslam, may your fortune increase and your enemies decrease."

Fistslam smiled and bowed back before exiting the chamber. Harry turned to Ragnok and walked over to the seat indicated.

Ragnok started, "For what reason have you come to Gringotts?"

From there Harry launched into an explanation as to why he was there and what he had discovered. Ragnok was appalled at what he learned and agreed to Harry's plans. They decided they would take all the money out of Harry's trust vault and transfer it to another vault under an alias. This was allowed because, until Lord Potter removed Harry's name from the list of those who had access to the vault, Harry could do whatever he wanted with its contents.

They talked for a while longer until Ragnok had another goblin bring in a blood red quill and a piece of parchment. He instructed Harry to write his name on the parchment and Harry did so. About 30 seconds passed before lines started appearing from Harry's name. As the names were written, Harry just had one thing going through his mind, _Merlin__!_ After about a minute it stopped and some of the names lit up in gold, indicating he had access to those vaults.

Ragnok informed Harry of how to get access to these vaults.

Harry spoke, while he injected magic into his voice "I hereby claim the inheritance rights to Vaults 1, 3, 6, 7, 118, 239 and 305. These vaults have yet to be claimed by my fore bearers and may now pass to me."

With that, a blinding flash of light surrounded Harry and when it faded he had a silver ring, that seemed to flow like water, on his ring finger on his right hand. On it, was a piece of pure white crystal that had a slight glow to it, with a shield, staff and a dragon carved, in gold, into it. The ring flickered to show a total of 7 different rings, all with different designs on them and made of different metals.

Ragnok said, "Never has anyone had access to so many ancient vaults. Vault 1 belonged to Myrddin Emrys, and you are his heir by magic. Vault 3 belonged to Godric Gryffindor, you have rights to that vault by blood and magic, the family head is passed down to oldest son, no matter what status they are. Your father never claimed the headship for this house at Dumbledore's insistence. So he does not have the right to disinherit you from this. Vault 6 belonged to Salazar Slytherin, you have rights to that vault by right of conquest and heir by magic. The right of conquest is directly related to his blood heirs' defeat on Halloween, 1981. Vault 7 belonged to Ignotus Peverell, that family married into the Potter family 400 years ago, again your father does not know this, none of your family does, they never thought to have a family history check. They simply got by, by being the Potters and Lord Gryffindor."

He paused and frowned slightly at his papers, then said, "Vault 118 belonged to an ancient magical line, the name was never given, they are just known as the 'Shadow Walkers'. They disappeared centuries ago, they moved out of Britain, to China, I believe. They were an ancient order, but chose to leave for a different part of the world. Vault 239 belonged to a dragon tamer that discovered the Opal eye, Artamius Dracumis. All his descendants were squibs until your mother. She is the first witch born of his descendants in almost 500 years. Because the family is patriarchal, head of house is passed to you.

"And finally Vault 305 belonged to Jackson Daniels, a fairly well off wizard of little repute, but his family was very wealthy, he just never touched the vault. He died during the muggles' first World War. This family split from the Potters around the time of your father's great grand Uncle's birth. The stipulation being that Lord Potter may not have the title of Lord Daniels. The initial Daniels' fortune was half of the Potter fortune when the families split."

Harry was dazed. How had his parents not known that they were related to these people? He could understand Merlin, Gryffindor and Slytherin but the the other 4? How did his grandfather keep it from James that he was related to Gryffindor and Peverell? It was mind-boggling!

He cleared his throat and said, "Umm well... I don't really know what to say? I guess we can start with figuring out how much I have. Then I was wondering if the goblin nation would help me find a way out of Britain and keep it from the Potters and the old man. I really need to remember his name. Anyway, I would pay any fees that the help might require, I know I have that much, at least, in my trust account."

Ragnok laughed, "Mr. Potter -"

Harry interrupted, "Sorry sir, but seeing as how my _family_ disowned me, just call me Harry. It's easier that way. Until I officially file my name as the lord of the Daniels' family, I am Harry No Name."

Ragnok smiled, "That is fine Harry, now, what you need to understand is that you have more money than your former family has ever had. The rumors that Myrdin Emrys and the founders vaults are just housing old, worthless relics and no gold was perpetuated by us. We became tired of always having witches and wizards claiming that they were related somehow, though most wizards and witches are, inheritance of these families is strictly through magic. In truth, they have fairly large fortunes in them. I will get you a ledger before you go but suffice to say, you are very wealthy, in fact, you are one of the wealthiest wizards in the world with access to these vaults. I believe that the Daniels' family vault is your poorest vault and it has around G1,000,000. The Potter family had around the same before your brother became famous. Now they have around twice that. Trust me when I say that you will be able to afford any help you may need."

He smirked, "Even the Malfoy family doesn't have as much as your former family, even before your brother's fame. Though, the other vaults don't have much more than that, your richest vault, the Emrys vault, has G6,000,000 in it, and that is just because it is the oldest and since he was a great friend to the Goblins, we had his vault invested in heavily over the centuries. Our last gift to the one who helped us the most in our history. Though, there are limitations on that account. You can only withdraw a certain amount within a year because it is a large portion of the British wizarding economy. But still, the amount that you can withdraw is substantial. I believe it is somewhere around G200,000 a year and considering a moderately sized manor costs around G12,000, the amount you have access to is more than you will ever use. Unless, of course, you are unwise with your money."

Harry just nodded, still in a daze.

Ragnok chuckled and said, "Now, from what I remember from the Shadow Walkers account, you have at least 1 small dwelling place in all the major countries around the world. That account is much more land rich, rather than money rich. So where would you like to go?"

Harry sighed, this was the part that he was dreading, he didn't know many places. He didn't really think that far ahead. He just knew he needed to get out, he thought he would have time to think after he got what was left in his trust vault. He still needed to get some things in the alley, that should give him enough time. He didn't need to rush, he estimated that he wouldn't be found missing until at least mid-afternoon to late evening the following day.

He said, "Can I think about it? I need to figure out a way to not draw attention to that fact that I am a child and I also need a way to communicate with other people in a different country. I was hoping Flourish & Blotts would have something."

Ragnok smiled, "Well we can help you with that as well. We can give you a charmed watch that would give you a glamour to make you look much older and anyway you want. We can incorporate a translation spell into the watch as well. You would able to speak any language you want with the exception of languages for magical species. The spells involved muffle the sound and distort the words."

Harry sighed in relief. He finally had a way out and people that would help him do it.

He smiled at the King of the Goblin Nation and said, "Well then, please deduct the cost of my visit from the Daniels' vault, make that my primary vault when you set me up with that watch. While that is taking place, could we go down to visit my vaults? Oh and we might as well just leave my trust vault alone, but take one fourth of it for the goblins. My former parents will never know. They will just think that I had less because Chris is the Boy-Who-Lived and he deserved more."

Ragnok smirked, "Thank you Harry, on the behalf of the Goblin Nation for your generous gift. As a thank you, you will be recognized as a friend to the Goblin Nation for your respect and honor to the goblins, when life has given you no reason to. Now I shall start the paperwork that you will need to travel. I will need a new name for your identification papers so that you may not be tracked. While you are down in the vaults your watch will be made and I will get you a list of places you can go. Also, I warn you now, when it is time for you to start Hogwarts, you need to go as part of your requirements to maintain recognition as heir to Gryffindor and Slytherin and they will have your real name on their list so this name is only temporary."

Harry smiled, "Thank you for this great honor. You can just use the name, Alexander Shadow. And I understand that I will need to come back. I always knew I would. I just don't need to be here now."

Ragnok nodded and wrote down the name, "Interesting name you chose..."

Harry shrugged, "I just figured, since I lived in the shadows for all my life, I might as well embrace them. As for the first name, well it just sounds cool! And it goes with Shadow." he finished laughing.

The chief goblin laughed with the 5 year old, who was much more mature than his true age, yet still was a child at heart, "Very well. I shall see to the paperwork and watch, while you go down to your vaults. Remember anything down there is yours. And I will also set you up with a special money pouch that transforms into a wallet around muggles. It connects directly to your primary account."

Harry thanked Ragnok for all his help and made his way don to his vaults with a new goblin by the name of Griphook.

Once down in his vaults, he didn't take any money. He simply looked for books that were interesting and anything else he thought he should take. He ended up taking a black suit of Basilisk armor from the Shadow Walkers vault along with some weapons he thought looked cool; including a short sword and two daggers. He also took some books from each of the vaults. He realized that he couldn't do any magic until he got a wand, to fool others into believing he needed one, but that didn't matter to him. He just wanted to read about them and figured he could practice the magic later in private. He also picked up a pensieve and a few books from the Emrys vault and a book on Invisibility in the Peverell vault. He stored all of it in a trunk he found in the Gryffindor vault, which he shrunk to fit in his pocket.

After he was done he went back to Ragnok's office. He glanced at the list of properties, then told the chief Goblin where to send him and took the prepared portkey, his papers and the watch.

He also said, "Could you invest my money from all but the Daniels' vault, with high risk, high gain and give the investor a 5% increase on what he gets out of it?"

Ragnok was shocked, no one had ever given a goblin that much control of their money and never offered that much in return, "We could not possibly take that much, their starting pay is 2% of the profits, we will take no more than 4%. Even if you are a smart child, you are still a child and we will not take advantage of that, there is no honor in that."

Harry agreed, then he said goodbye and disappeared in a flash of color. Ragnok rubbed his hands together in anticipation for when the news broke that Harry Potter disappeared. He knew that Britain wouldn't see him again until his first year at Hogwarts. He made sure that as long as he wore his watch, he would be safe. He had the enchanters add as many protection spells as they could. He was a friend of the Goblin nation, he was afforded that sort of protection. He also signed the emancipation papers signifying that the Goblin Nation recognized it.

Harry landed in a flash of color in the middle of what looked like a meeting room, surrounded by people in black robes. His first thoughts were, "Uh Oh..."

A/N - I seem to have confused a few people, this is the first part of the story, I will clarify in the second "book".


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. I appreciate constructive criticism but will ignore any flames you send me. If you don't like the story then don't read it.**

Chapter 2

Alex fought back with kicks and punches that his opponent had a hard time blocking. It didn't matter that he was older than Alex by eight years. Alex was fast, which more than made up for his lack of strength. His opponent blocked all of Alex's attacks until Alex surprised him by faking a drop kick and came at him with a spinning back kick. His opponent went down with a dull _Thud_. Those watching the fight were still amazed at how far Alex had come in the nearly six years he had stayed with them.

Alex helped his opponent, Jean, up and bowed to him out of respect. He got a bow back and they both walked out of the training room. Alex himself was amazed at how far he had come from the scared little boy who showed up years ago.

_Flashback_

Harry landed in the middle of a meeting room with people dressed in black robes, though they weren't normal robes, they seemed like they were easier to move around in.

It only took a moment for all the strangers to jump up and to the walls, all taking fighting stances; Harry just waved meekly and said, "Uhh... Hello?"

One person, who seemed to be the leader, stepped forward and said, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Harry stared at the oddly dressed man and then said, "Umm, the Goblins gave me a Portkey and said it would take me to the Shadow Walker's property in Shanghai."

The leader simply continued to stare at him. Harry couldn't make out any changes in his expression because his face was covered, although he could sense a tension come over everyone else in the room.

The stranger proceeded to stare at him for almost a full two minutes. Harry didn't back down though, he trusted the Goblins wouldn't send him somewhere dangerous and it helped that he didn't have a high opinion of adults, thanks to his parents and the old man. Finally the old man broke contact and motioned for the others to sit. All at once the tension was gone.

The stranger said, "We welcome you, Alexander Shadow. We are the order of Shadow Walkers."

Harry was shocked that he knew his "name", but a thought came to him, from his readings, he remembered reading about the mind magics and Legilimency.

"I would prefer it if you asked your questions, instead of rummaging around my mind for them thank you very much." he retorted.

The others shifted in their seats slightly but the leader just sat there, unfazed.

"I apologize, I simply needed to know who you were and what your intentions were. It has been a very long time since someone has been sent to us by our Goblin friends."

Harry, slightly appeased, nodded his understanding and said, "Well, I just recently found out that I have access to the Shadow Walkers' vault and properties, I needed to get out of Britain and decided to look them through. Now, here I am."

The news that he had access to the vault and properties sent murmurings throughout the others around the room. Harry, though, finally relaxed, realizing that if they were going to attack him, they would have already.

_End Flashback_

They had continued their talks for another hour before the leader, a man only known as The Shadow, offered Harry, or "Alex" a chance to join their order and train. He explained that he would need to return to go to Hogwarts and what he had initially ran from. The others were appalled at what Alex had told him. They agreed that he would have to return but in the meantime, he could train and maybe find a family in their order. Harry agreed almost immediately.

Harry remembered the most painful part of his training. They started him off with simple exercising to get him in shape and used to the work load. After about 6 months of that, they gave him the knowledge of all their skills and their special branch of magic. That was the most painful; it had felt like someone was repeatedly splitting his head open with an axe. They literally shoved all the information into his mind with a specially modified Pensieve. He spent the following two days in a deep meditation to sort through all the new skills and information about their brand of magic.

It was during that meditation that he felt something that wasn't him inside his mind. He went to The Shadow with his worries and they immediately performed an ancient, American-Indian cleansing ritual. That had been painful too, but Harry knew it had to be done and was glad when it was over. It turned out that the "parasite," for lack of a better word, was feeding off his magic. With it gone, his magic received a fairly large boost. When the trainers found out that he could already manipulate his internal magic and use wandless spells easily, they started training him to think differently and to use it to his advantage. They also started sending him to different parts of the world to learn the different branches of magic; Charms, Defense, Transfiguration, Mind Magics, Potions, Herbology and the magic of specific places and cultures in the world.

Thus went the next 6 years. Harry, or as everyone knew him, Alex, would travel to the different training properties the Order of the Shadow Walkers around the world, learning the different aspects culture played on the styles of magic and Shadow Walkers, though he spent a great amount of time in America. He learned a lot during those 6 years, but now he was ready to go back to Britain, ready for his first year at Hogwarts.

He knew he didn't need to go to Hogwarts – he already could do and understood more than any 7th year there – but he made a promise to himself that he would go back and prove his old _family_ wrong. He also knew that he needed to do this since it was required of him to access the Gryffindor and Slytherin accounts. He actually didn't know how he felt to be going back to England. He was a bit smug and wanted to show up his old _family_ and even more so, his _brother_. Unlike normal twins, Harry and Chris Potter never really got along. Alex knew it was because his brother was spoiled rotten. He got whatever he wanted from his parents and if he did something wrong he always blamed Harry. Their parents always believed Chris over Harry so Harry grew to resent Chris and their parents, while Chris grew up to know that he could get away with everything. Alex had a feeling that the truth would come out eventually, but he didn't care about that. He knew he would always do the right thing, even though most people were ungrateful bastards.

As he packed his things up, he thought about the few friends he was leaving. He knew he would come back, but he knew he would miss them. He had more acquaintances than friends, all over the world. All of them were Shadow Walkers, or those that helped the order. Most were from the older generation and the few that weren't, were still a few years older than himself, but that didn't matter to them. Alex had a grasp on magic that few could match; he instinctively understood it and knew how to use it. That was the main reason that he outstripped others, older than himself, in training and studies. He hoped that he would make more friends at school, but already knew that Chris, Ronald Weasley, and Neville Longbottom were not going to make that easy. They never did when he was still a Potter but he didn't care. He found that the best part about his time with the Shadow Walkers was that they helped him understand to let go of the bad feelings he had for his old family. He learned to not feel contempt for them, in fact, he felt nothing for them. Not hate, certainly not love, he felt apathy for them. The Shadow Walkers helped him release all the pent up anger, hate, and resentment for his old family.

He finished getting his things together and walked out of his room. As he passed by others, they said their farewells and finally he made it to the Shadow's room.

He walked in, bowed, and said, "Sir, I'm ready to go back to London."

"Alright," the Shadow said. "I shall make you a Portkey into Ragnok's office. From there, make your way to the Leaky Cauldron and stay there for the remainder of the summer. Always remember to centre yourself, I know that you may think you are ready to meet your family, but it is always good to be sure. You don't know what emotions seeing them will awaken. Also, I suggest that you not go by the name you chose for yourself. Your main vault is the Daniels vault, so use your true name with the Daniels surname, Alexander Shadow should only be for the order. And remember, you will always have a place in our ranks."

Alex smiled; the Order had become his home; the members, his family during his time with them.

Shadow continued, "You are one of the most well trained amongst us. You don't know this, but I sped up your training with us to help you deal with what is to come, most do not learn Shadow magic the way you did. You are a fully trained and qualified Shadow Walker. Remember, if anyone asks, you may share where you got your skills, but you must trust them otherwise use the many stories that we both know you have come up with. However, remember to also not display your skills as to show off to others and never use them for dark purposes, and always be wary and watchful when you use Shadow Magic. I will see you next summer when you return. Until then, be safe and remember to stay true to your heart. It will never lead you astray."

Harry nodded and said, "Thank you Shadow. For everything you have done for me. Forever let the Shadows be your shield." He bowed and took hold of the Portkey.

When he landed in the office, he immediately bowed to Ragnok and said, "It is good to see you again Master Goblin."

"It is good to see you as well Mister Shadow," Ragnok smiled.

Alex smiled, "I was told that it would be prudent of me to discard that name for now and take up my true name. I am now Lord Harry Jackson Daniels, since I use that vault as my primary vault. But remember, it's just Mister Daniels or Harry to the Goblins, you have been kind to me when I most needed it and for that, I will always be in your debt."

Ragnok smiled, "Very well Mister Daniels. May I be the first to welcome you back to England. I assume you wish to leave and get a room?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I was told that I should stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the remainder of the summer. However, I may need help getting to Kings Cross."

"That is no problem," Ragnok said. "When the time comes, I will send you directions. Also, if you have any problems with your old _family_, see me and I will set them straight. You are a friend of the Goblin nation, you are emancipated by our laws, and they cannot overrule them."

Harry smiled, "I thank you for that, but that will not be an issue. They disowned me, it is permanent, and not even the Minister or the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW can reverse it. It is ancient Potter Family magic. Also it helps that I am emancipated in nearly every major country around the world, and all the countries represented in the ICW. Also, I can shadow walk through any wards. It is a specialty that only the Shadow Walkers and Goblins know, along with my own brand of transportation. You know of the training needed to Shadow Walk. And if you are fearing that they will be able to use Legilimency on me to get the knowledge, I have some of the strongest shields in the Order. Not even The Shadow can get through my shields without the aid of three other walkers helping him."

Ragnok looked impressed, "Very well. But what other form of transportation do you speak of? Also, I know that you have no need of a wand, but-"

Harry interrupted and said, "I have one already prepared. I just need Ollivander to sign off on it. I call it shifting, I just will my magic to take me somewhere and it does, the world feels like it shifts a little."

Ragnok smirked, "That sounds like a Goblin specialty. Just tell Ollivander I sent you and he should give you no problems. If I may ask, what is it made of?"

"Twelve inches, blackwood with Shadow Phoenix flight feather and Chimera fang," Harry smiled.

Ragnok gaped, "I've never heard of a wizard using a wand with those types of cores."

Harry smiled, "Well, I don't need a wand really, but when Shadow told me that I would need one when I came back and Alex Shadow would need one registered, I collected the ingredients along the way and made my own. I figured that my wand would need to be in the shadows and in the grey as much as I am so I made it that way. The reason it needs the cores is that they resonate with me and I have a lot of power."

Ragnok smiled and said, "Very well. I shall let you be on your way then, however, I must tell you, I know that you are well trained, but always remember, there is always more knowledge in the world, and you should always keep an open mind about things. You never know, you may realize that you can learn a thing or two from Hogwarts."

Harry smiled and nodded. He then walked out of the bank, bowing to the goblins as he did. He made his way to the Leaky Cauldron and walked into the pub.

He made his way through the crowd to Tom and said, "I would like a room until September 1st."

Tom eyed the young man before him and finally said, "Very well. Seeing how it's the 30th, and I charge 5 sickles a night; that will be 7 galleons and 15 sickles. Room 14 is available," he said, taking Harry's gold and handing him a key.

Before he walked away, Tom said, "Where's your family boy?"

Harry said, "They disowned me a few years ago. I've been traveling for the last couple of years, came back to go to Hogwarts."

Tom gaped at him, but didn't get a chance to respond before Harry turned around and walked up the stairs. Once he got in his room, he got himself settled. He immediately went into meditation. He spent the rest of the day like that. He only went down for dinner.

He got his letter the following day, the day he turned eleven. To treat himself, he went to Flourish and Blotts and got a few books on ancient runes. They were fascinating to him and he loved to study them. He learned a lot about them when he spent three months in Egypt and he was hooked. He had gotten the gifts from his friends the day before and simply spent the day reading in the dingy old pub. Tom took the time to speak with him and got to know him. Harry could tell he was concerned but assured him that he was capable of caring for himself. He didn't tell anyone who his old _family_ was, just that he was disowned and on his own. He just figured that after a while, people would just stop asking.

He doubted that his old family would even recognize him. He looked a bit older than eleven years old; he was much more fit than an average boy his age, which led to why some believed he was older than he really was. He kept his hair short, so that it was constantly messy. Miku, a friend from Hong Kong, said she liked it that way and he had kept it that way ever since, her opinion mattered to him greatly because she was his first friend. Some others said it looked weird that way, like he didn't take care of himself, but he learned to not care what others thought of him. He also used his Metamorphmagus powers he had to change his facial structure, making his bones more slanted.

He learned a few years ago that he was a Metamorphmagus, afterwards, he had someone in the Order train him to use them. He found that the power was blocked and so unblocked it so he could use the abilities. He didn't really care if the Potters found him, but that didn't mean he would make it easier on them.

The month that he was there went by fast. After he got his letter, he went to get his things and a few more than what was required. He got a seven compartment trunk with a built in training room, built in Library, to store all of his books, potions ingredients storage room, and a storage place for his weapons and shadow armour, the other two he would find a use for later. He also went to get his wand checked out. He remembered that conversation very well.

_Flashback_

Harry walked into the old Wand Maker's shop and right away felt wards alerting Ollivander to a customer. Then felt the old man sneak up behind him to spook him.

He turned around to face him and said, "Nice try Mr Ollivander, but it will take more than that to sneak up on me."

The old man gaped at him for a moment then smiled, "Well, Mr Potter I've been expecting you for quite some time."

Harry immediately stiffened and said, "Sir, I haven't been a Potter for six years, I didn't consider myself one even before that time. My name is Harry Jackson Daniels. I found that I have access to the Daniels family vault as the last surviving male member so I will take that name in thanks for helping me when I needed it."

Ollivander looked at him for a moment then nodded, "Very well. Now let us get started. Which is your wand hand?"

"Well, that's the thing; I already have a wand, but need you to sign off on it," Harry smirked.

Ollivander gaped. "Well, who made this wand and may I see it?"

Harry pulled it out of his holster and handed it over.

"I made it, under the guidance of a friend." he finished mysteriously.

The moment Ollivander touched the wand he gasped, "You say you made this wand?"

"Yeah, I had a friend help me when I needed it, but I made it, yes," Harry smirked.

Ollivander gazed upon the black wand and said, "Twelve inches. Blackwood. Dual core; Shadow Phoenix flight feather and Chimera fang. Moderately flexible. Fantastic for illusions." He turned sharply to face Harry, "Who was your friend that helped you?"

Harry continued to smirk, "I don't know his true name, only that he's known as The Shadow of Japan."

As he said the name, Ollivander's skin tightened around his eyes. Harry knew the old man knew who he was talking about. He was glad that Shadow told him that he could trust Ollivander to sign off on his wand and not say anything to anyone.

"Ah. Well, yes." He cleared his throat. "In any event, this wand is expertly made. However, the Ministry may cause you problems. You see, it does not have the trace on it and there for, they cannot track any underage magic."

Harry smirked, "Well then, it's a good thing that I am emancipated in nearly every country around the world, every country represented in the ICW and the Goblin Nation isn't it? But your right, I might as well get another one, to appease the idiots in power."

Ollivander cracked a smile, "Well, since that small problem is solved, may I entice you to buy two wand holsters?"

"I already have one, but I guess I could buy an extra for my new wand and another, just in case. As a thank you for certifying my wand. Also, I know that you know about Shadow, so I am to inform you that, if asked, this particular wand belongs to a man named Alexander Shadow." Harry smiled when Ollivander nodded his head in understanding.

He bought two Auror grade holsters with anti-summoning and invisibility charms on it, had a wand choose him – holly and phoenix feather – and left.

_End Flashback_

He'd also bought an owl. A beautiful snowy owl that he named Hedwig after asking her what she liked. He already had ways of getting messages to those he needed to, but he figured that he could keep those ways secret and use them to speak with other Shadow Walkers, using Hedwig for any friends he met in school.

One day during the middle of August, he was in his room studying, when he heard a commotion downstairs. He got up and went down to see what the problem was. He got half way down the steps when he saw them. His former family. He blinked. His mother was the same as the last time he saw her, if a little subdued, his father was the same. His brother slightly surprised him; he was much chubbier than he remembered. He had to stop himself from laughing at the sight. His brother was reminding him of a peacock, he was puffing out his chest, strutting around and showing off for those in the bar. And he finally let out a small chuckle when he realized that the patrons of the bar were eating it up. He laughed as he turned around to go back to his room, not noticing Tom watching him with a questioning face.

The rest of summer went by faster than he thought it could, but Harry supposed that the reason was because he had something to look forward to once it ended. He spent his days exploring the Alley and talking to the store owners. He knew that Tom suspected who he was but the barkeeper kept it to himself and Harry appreciated that. The other store owners didn't bother with who he was; they just enjoyed chatting with him. He got up in the mornings and went into his exercise room in his trunk and worked out for a few hours, practiced his Shadow Walker skills and then went about his day. He was delighted to learn new things and the store owners helped in that regard. Each one educated him on the basic principles of their own crafts. He learned how to expand trunks to have multiple compartments; he learned about rare potions' ingredients that he had not known before; and best of all, he thought, he learned a few Ancient Runes he hadn't before.

Mr Blott even taught him some slightly advanced Arithmancy; he knew the basics, but hadn't gotten that far into it, in favour of Runes and other of the "core" classes at Hogwarts. He realized early on that the knowledge of Mundane in the English Magical Community was very lacking. Most didn't know how to blend in at all and they mispronounced many common Mundane terms. It appalled him that they gave so little regard for those that outnumbered them by more than 1500 to 1. However he realized that Britain was the last place that "Blood Purity" still gave precedence over skill. They even used terms that were foreign to mundanes like the word "Muggle." In almost every other country, outside Europe, they used the term, "Mundane," Harry thought that the reason was a sound one, less mundanes would question the word than they would with "Muggle." It also sounded less insulting, the terms "squib", "Muggleborn", "Mudblood" were all only used in Europe, primarily in Britain, in other countries people used terms like, "magical-mundane", "1st Generation", "Mundane", or "Norm". It just made things less conspicuous and less insulting. In America people would ignore you if you said those words, until you said the "correct" term; they reasoned it would create better manners.

Harry ignored all this in favour of observing those around him and the new students getting their school things, to try and get an idea of what to expect from his peers at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. I appreciate constructive criticism but will ignore any flames you send me. If you don't like the story then don't read it.**

Chapter 3

Finally September first came. Harry got up early and went through his morning routine and then went down to the bar to have a bit of breakfast. He looked at his clock and saw that it was only 7:30 in the morning, so he had plenty of time. Having gone to Kings Cross earlier during the summer, he could easily Shadow Walk there. He sat and talked with Tom.

"So Mr Daniels, looks like you will be leaving us for Hogwarts today."

Harry smiled, "Yeah but my time here has been fun. I learned a lot from the shop owners. Mr Flourish gave me some good books on Runes. I already have a fairly good collection but the few he pointed out were very good. I hadn't encountered a lot of Norse Runes in my travels, not many countries use them. Most use Babylonian and Egyptian since those two are the most widely known, outside of Britain. Although, the only place that I encountered Ancient American Indian was in the States and in South America, Ancient Minoan Runes were even more difficult to find, there weren't any in Flourish and Blotts though so it was a bit disappointing."

"Well, you sure do like your Runes don't you?" Tom laughed.

Harry smiled, "Yeah sorry, when I talk about them I tend to go off on tangents. When I was in Egypt I just sort of found them and they spoke to me. All that power and history in a tiny little rune. From that point on I've had a sort of obsession with them. After that is Defense. I'm rather good at that, when I was in other countries I just found people and asked to learn from them about their different styles of dueling and learned to improvise my spells. When I could, I got a wand and started practicing. I found so many different spells that did the same thing in multiple cultures but were easier or more difficult to cast in other parts of the world."

Tom raised his eyebrow, "Really? Well, be careful at Hogwarts. Although it might interest you to know that Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor and Head of Ravenclaw, was a dueling champion back a few years. Also, I know you've been out of the country for a long time, but I know you've heard about Professor Dumbledore, well he is probably the second best dueler in the castle, next to Flitwick. Then there is Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration and Head of Gryffindor and then Lily Potter, Muggle Studies and she sometimes helps in Charms and Transfiguration, following them, the Potion's Master, Severus Snape is just a bit behind her in skill, but he makes up for it with his knowledge of the Dark Arts."

Tom didn't notice the roll his eyes when he said Dumbledore's name, but he did the slight scowl when he said Lily Potter's name.

"Let me ask you a question Harry, I know you don't say much about your family but, was it the Potters? You don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but I promise I won't say anything, it isn't my business to interfere."

Harry sighed, "No, it's alright. Yes it was the Potters but I won't go into the reasons why I left. Let's just say that I overheard a conversation between them and someone else and found out that I was disowned so that Christopher could inherit the Potter family's Head of House and fortune, and they had some other plans that I won't say. So I left, I went to the Goblins to empty out my trust to have some money and found I inherited a score of other family Heads that my parents didn't claim or couldn't claim and because I was disowned and that made me an emancipated minor, magic accepted my claim and I became head of those houses and got access to those vaults, I didn't change anything in the Wizengamot because it would draw attention to me, so I left everything alone. After that the Goblins helped me out by giving me friend status and emancipating me in their nation and helped me get to my next destination. During my travels I had friends that helped me, but for the most part I was on my own, which was fine, I was used to it by that point. I spent my time studying and training with help from friends. I knew I would have to come back, part of my duty as some of the families I am Head of require some things that I must do in Britain, one of which is going to Hogwarts; even when I can probably pass my OWLs now, at least in some classes and by Britain's standards."

When Harry was done with his explanation Tom was beyond mad. That someone could treat a child that way was beyond him.

But he knew, by what he knew of Harry, that pity and offers of taking him in would not be welcome so he simply asked, "What do you mean? 'By Britain's standards'. And from what I heard, the other Potter child was a squib and ran away."

Harry shrugged, "I did run away, but only because I wasn't really paid attention to much, and I am by no means a squib. As to education, well, Hogwarts may claim to be the best and it is, for Britain, but that isn't true for the rest of the world. Many countries best Britain's curriculum in most, if not all areas. Probably the only area that Britain excels in would be Defense Against the Dark Arts, and that is only because you have Dark Lords cropping up every thirty years or so, most is by experience, not by educational standards. And that can be resolved by eliminating the Blood Purity crap that runs rampant in the Ministry. That and the bribery and out right crap that the rag, Daily Prophet, spouts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting Britain down, only those in power and those that let the corrupting influences continue unimpeded. To be honest, many of my friends in other countries get the Daily Prophet just to laugh, it's like the whole paper is the 'Funny' section of the New York Times. Even the Quibbler has more truth in it than the Prophet, if you know how to sort through the weirdness that they use to cover up their true messages."

Tom shook his head, "You know, I sometimes forget that I am talking to a child. You talk like you are much older than a normal eleven year old. And what do you mean? How can you sort through the Quibbler to understand what they are saying?"

Harry laughed, "Well that's what you get when you were a disowned and legally emancipated five year old that then travelled around the world for six years." Tom scowled again. "Anyway, what I do is read the rag first, then read the Quibbler. If you know what to look for, replace random names with true names of people or departments in the ministry, you just work it out, it takes a bit of thinking, but it is more truthful than the Prophet."

Tom nodded his head, deciding that he would try it out to see if it worked. He agreed with Harry on several points but there wasn't much he could do about.

Harry checked his watch which read 9:20, and said, "Oh! Well, it's about the time I need to leave. I want to get a decent seat on the train and avoid a chance meeting with undesirables, if you get my meaning." Tom nodded, "Well, thank you Tom for a wonderful stay, I will probably be back another time. Until then." he gathered his things and shrunk them.

He ran his hand through his hair and did something that Miku taught him, as he ran his fingers through his hair, two lines of emerald green appeared through his hair, from back to front. Every so often they would change to a red, silver, blue, yellow, or back to his normal jet black.

Turning he said, "A little something a friend taught me, gotta make a bang don't I?"

Tom laughed and waved.

Just as Harry was stepping out the door he said, "Oh and don't worry about the change, keep it as thanks for allowing me to stay. It's on my bed." And he was gone.

Intrigued, Tom went up to Harry's old room and on his bed was a bag of glimmering Galleons, probably twenty or more. Tom smiled; he would keep them but the next time Harry would stay for free. It didn't feel right to take money from him. He hoped his time at Hogwarts was fun and decided to write him when he could and use some of the money to buy a present for the boy when the holidays came around.

Harry walked out the door to the middle of Mundane London. He walked to a dark alley and silently cast a Notice-Me-Not charm around the area and on himself, froze the charm on his hair and stepped into the shadows. He came out in the middle of Kings Cross. It was a good thing he cast the charm because it seemed like the station was about to burst at the seams. He made his way towards the Platform between 9 and 10 and saw a small family looking dubiously at the solid looking barrier. He figured they were mundanes with a first generation magical going to Hogwarts for the first time.

He walked up to them and said, "I'm sorry for intruding but do you need help?"

The two parents looked at him oddly. The father was a little over six feet tall with a kind face and sandy brown hair. The mother also had a kind and beautiful face with curly deep brown hair that flowed down her back. The girl that was with them looked like a mix of the two, she had very curly hair that Harry knew would tame with time, but still looked good on her, she had deep chocolate eyes with specks of gold in them. The only difference was that she had slightly overly large teeth. Harry knew she would grow into them but just by looking at her he knew she was self-conscious about them.

The man, trying not to draw attention to his family and staring slightly at the young man's hair which had two lines of emerald green going through it said, "I'm sorry but excuse me? I don't understand."

Harry smiled, "Well, you're standing in front of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, your pushing a trolley with a large trunk on it and your daughter is carrying a book called 'Hogwarts: A History'. I can only assume that you are going to Hogwarts. My name is Harry."

He held out his hand and had to stifle his chuckle as they gaped at him. All of a sudden the girl said, "Oh! Is this your first year too? I just found out about Magic, we were ever so surprised, but my parents were ever so pleased. It explained so much about the odd things that have happened to me. I'm Hermione Granger. Are you a Muggleborn too? Or did you grow up in a magical family?"

Harry was surprised that she said all that without taking a breath but from the looks on her parents' faces that was commonplace with her.

The man shook Harry's hand and chuckling, said, "Calm down Hermione. My name is Daniel Granger, but I go by Dan, this is my wife Emmaline, but she goes by Emma." The woman shook his hand, "And you've already met our daughter, Hermione."

"Shakespeare, I like it. I haven't come across many people who read it much, at least for the sake of reading it and not for school." Harry smiled.

Hermione smiled, "Thank you! I like it too. Do you read a lot?"

Harry smiled "Whenever I can. Although sometimes I have to wait a bit to learn the language first. Up until a month ago I was traveling. Now as to answer your previous questions; yes I will be a first year and the second question is a bit harder to explain. I've been on my own for a while. My family didn't want me and disowned me, so I've been staying with friends in different places for the past couple of years."

The elder Grangers looked appalled, but Hermione exclaimed, "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get so personal."

Harry smiled, "Its fine. You didn't know, but to answer your question, my former family was magical. So no I'm not a first generation magical."

At their questioning glance, he explained, "Europe is the only place left in the world that they use those terms to describe people, 'squib' for a non-magical born to a magical family, a 'Muggleborn' for a magical born to non-magicals and 'Muggle' for non-magicals. And then, only Britain uses those terms regularly, most other countries use; 'Magical-mundane', 'First generation magical' or 'First generation witch/wizard', 'Norm' and 'mundane'. Other countries find the terms used here to be kind of insulting and crude. I say crude because they stand out in the mundane world, whereas 'Mundane' or 'Norm' stands out but not as much as 'Muggle'. Though some advocate that saying the common term is a bit of a mouthful so they just refer to 'squibs' as mundanes, norms and so on. Personally, I think the terms 'Muggle' and 'squib' are a bit racist. It's like labelling someone, and if you hear a _pureblood_ talking about 'Muggles' they sound like they are talking about an animal. It just makes people sound arrogant. Really, non-magicals are the normal people, magicals are the weird ones."

The Grangers nodded their understanding, Harry smiled and clapped his hands, "Well, we've been standing here long enough, would you like me to get first so you know what to do and that no one is taking the mickey out of you?"

Dan smiled and chuckled, "If you don't mind."

Harry smiled, "Not at all. I'll go and wait for you on the other side, just be sure that if you are nervous, go at it at a bit of a run."

They smiled in thanks and Harry made his way through the barrier. Once on the other side he checked the time – 9:45 – there was already a fair bit of people here, but he figured that he had about another fifteen to twenty minutes before the majority of people started to show up and his family would show up. He knew he'd have to see them later so he hoped that he would avoid them until then. As he turned around he saw the Grangers come through the barrier with their faces scrunched up, expecting an impact.

He dispelled the freeze spell on his hair and smiled and said, "See, easy as cake, well for some people at least, I know a few people who could burn water in the kitchen." he chuckled and then laughed when he saw their expressions and looks at his hair.

"Sorry, I haven't really been in Britain for six years and it's hard not to use phrases from other countries. It doesn't help that I say pretty much what is on my mind. Just don't ask about academics unless you want me to talk for a while. As to why my hair is this way, well, I had a friend show it to me and I thought it was cool so I kept it. I froze it so that no mundanes would notice it." he smiled.

He saw Hermione smile and figured she would be a good person to talk to on the train; she looked like the academic type, if the way she was holding the large book was anything to go by.

"Well, that's fine; Hermione loves reading and learning new things. She has a near eidetic memory so she is always looking for new things to learn." Dan said.

Harry smiled brilliantly at them, "Really? I do too! I already know my books pretty much front to back. Though I know more from my time in other countries. I even learned how to make it so that I have complete recall, meaning that I don't really need to study."

Hermione looked interested, "Really, I would love to learn that. And the hair trick, that is pretty neat."

"I can teach you both on the way. I learned it from a monk in India. It is actually just a side effect from a discipline called Occlumency. I learned a varied form that isn't very well known, but it protects your mind against mind reading and invasion, just as the common form does. I learned a lot from the monk, Master Jo. I could teach you if you want." Harry smiled.

Dan and Emma smiled at the two children as they talked, they were angered that this young man was on his own but he seemed to be able to take care of himself. He even admitted that going to Hogwarts was his own idea and no one was forcing him.

Hermione was explaining to Harry what she was looking forward to, "... Oh and did you know that Christopher Potter will be in our year? I wonder if he's nice?"

She didn't notice his smile falter for a second when she mentioned the name but her parents did and wondered about it.

Harry sighed, "Hermione, I don't mean to be rude but, don't believe everything you've heard about Chris Potter."

Hermione looked at him oddly, "Why? He defeated You-Know-Who, the greatest Dark Lord of the century."

Harry winced, "Well, no one was there that night except for 3 people, Chris, his brother and Voldemort."

"I didn't know Christopher Potter had a brother? And who is Voldemort?" Hermione asked.

Harry said, "You don't know he had a brother because his parents disowned him when he was five and Voldemort is the name of the dark wizard. People have a silly superstition about saying his name. It's not even his real name but I haven't figured what it is yet."

The elder Grangers looked at each other, they figured out who the brother was, but Hermione said, "Why would they be afraid to say that name if it is made up? And why would the Potters disown their son, how do you know all this?"

Harry smiled, "I'll explain on the train. You might as well know since you might decide to be my friend. Even if you don't, you'll find out later tonight. Anyway, we should get going. A lot of families will be showing up soon and I want to get a good seat and avoid some people until I absolutely need to see them." Turning to the Grangers he said, "It was a pleasure meeting you. I'll let Hermione use my owl if she wants to write to you. Otherwise Hedwig might get bored, all my friends and those that I consider family all live in other countries and I have alternate ways of communicating with them. Maybe I'll see you next year. Though, if you could, when she is there, give her some bacon and toast if you are having it, she loves it." he finished smiling.

Dan shook his hand and said, "We will. Thank you for your help Harry. And thank you for allowing Hermione to use your owl. That reminds me, where are your things?"

Harry smiled and pulled his shrunken trunk out of his pocket and said, "I shrunk my things and let Hedwig fly ahead so that she wasn't cramped in a cage all the way to the castle. Call me paranoid but I really don't want other people snooping through my things, or give them the chance to."

Emma smiled, "Well that was easier than lugging it around everywhere. Anyway thank you again and take care of our daughter."

Hermione hugged her parents and her and Harry got on the train just as the crowd started arriving. Harry led her all the train to the very back. He subtly cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on the door. As he turned around, he realized that he couldn't have timed it more perfectly. The Potters, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, the Longbottoms, and the Weasleys just crossed through the barrier. Harry quickly cast a Notice-Me-Not on the window and sat down. He got the feeling that Hermione would not leave him alone until he answered all of his questions and did not want to be interrupted.

Once they settled Hermione said, "Okay, can you explain how you know all these things about the Potters?"

Harry sighed, "Well the reason I know all of this is because up until I was 5 my name was Harry James Potter." Hermione gasped, "The nigh I left, I was reading in my room and lost track of time so I didn't go down to dinner and they didn't remind me. So I was sneaking downstairs for some left overs, I was sneaking so I didn't anger or bother them. When I got to the stairs by the parlor, I heard my former parents talking with someone. They were saying how my father had already disowned me so that my younger twin could inherit the head of the Potter family and the Potter fortune, since he is the _chosen one _andI also found out they were going to give my magic to Chris. When I heard what they were going to do with me I ran. I had been studying magic for a few years by that time and it came naturally to me. I could do a lot of first to third year spells at that point so I ran away. I ended up at Gringotts and the Goblins helped me get away, after I learned that I could claim a few family heads. I found out I had more than enough money to be on my own. I was already emancipated in Britain when they disowned me, the idiots signed the wrong type of forms and basically made it so that I was emancipated instead of made a ward of the Ministry, and the Goblins helped by giving me "Friend" status and emancipating me in their nation as well. I got a Portkey and started my world tour of six years. Though, after the Goblins heard my story they would have helped me get emancipated even if the right forms were signed."

When he finished Hermione was gaping at him, "Wow, I can't believe someone would do something like that. Who were your parents talking to? Did you get a chance to look at them?"

Harry grimaced, "I'm not sure you would believe me. I can tell just by your attitude that you kind of worship authority figures."

Hermione looked stung, "Well they are in a position of authority for a reason. We must respect them."

Harry shook his head, "No we must respect the position they hold but if the person has done nothing worthy of respect than I don't respect them. Respect is something that is to be earned with actions, not words. This is why I don't really respect Chris Potter. I grew up with him for five years, in that time he did, nothing to deserve the absolute respect and adoration he has with magical Britain, he did, however, do everything he could to get me in trouble and make my home life miserable. If he did something wrong, he would tell our parents that I did it and they would believe him without question. The public worships the ground he walks on but they just see what he and the elder Potters want them to see, not the truth. Like I said, only three people were there that night, two were babies and the third is gone for now. He isn't talking anytime soon. People worship the idea that they have made up of the Boy-Who-Lived, not the actual person. The actual person is just a spoiled little brat that gets whatever he wants."

Hermione stared at him, "I kind of understand, but surely he can't be that bad? After all you haven't seen him in six years. And what do you mean, that Voldemort is gone 'for now'?"

Harry shrugged, "If he was treated the same way that he was while I was there then I would guess that he hasn't changed, but you may be right, I'll wait to see for myself. And what I meant was that, that night he turned into something else, not a ghost but something else, I'm not sure. I remember that night because of my Occlumency training."

Hermione shuddered, "I can't believe you remember that night. Was it horrible?"

Harry shrugged, "No not really, he was ugly though, looked more snake than man and his eyes were glowing red."

Hermione shuddered again, "Let's talk about something else please."

Harry nodded, "Okay, would you like to learn Occlumency?"

Hermione smiled and nodded, "Oh yes please!"

Harry laughed, "Well, there is the way I learned, which is fast and slightly painful, but you would have moderately good shields by the time we reached Hogwarts, or there is the way that will take months if not a year or two to learn. Also, the kind that I would be teaching you is different to what everyone else knows. Normally, Occlumency just lets you hide your thoughts and memories, I learned this first, and it took a long time. What I learned after and am offering to teach is more offensive. It lets you protect them but, like they say, 'The best defense is a good offense'. It would allow you to attack anyone who tries to read your mind. It can be as much as a warning, up to and including destroying their mind. This, I might add, is completely legal. It is illegal for someone to read someone else's mind without permission, which goes doubly for minors. This type of Occlumency will let you set up defenses that your subconscious mind would control and they would consist of anything you can think of. Your mindscape can be anything from your house, a desert, the bottom of the ocean, space, other planets, anything you can think of, the same goes for your defenses. I suggest that you read through a book on dangerous beasts and use those as your secondary defense."

Hermione looked alarmed that someone could read her mind, "Well, I would love to learn it as soon as possible but you said there is some pain?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah but its only mild, kind of like a really bad head ache but that just lasts as long as it takes you to sort through the information. There is only pain because your mind is bombarded with new information faster than it can cope with. It took me longer than it would take you because I had more than just modified type of Occlumency given to me."

Hermione looked interested, "What other sort of things did you get?"

"I'm sorry I can't say," Harry replied. "It wouldn't do for someone to get it from your mind and also there are secrecy issues. The people that gave it to me trust me not to reveal their secrets."

Hermione huffed, "Well I guess I can understand that. But really, what did you learn that needs to be secret? Knowledge should be out there for all to learn."

Harry smiled slightly, "Well anyone can learn what I know, there are only a few things that can't be learned around the world, but those are property of certain people and organizations. Think of it as copyright laws. I might be able to teach you but you would need to keep it a secret and your Occlumency would have to be good enough. Also, the people who taught me would probably want you to not look at authority figures as you do. More like how I look at them. I let them prove their worth to me through actions. Not words. For example, Professor Dumbledore may be said to be the greatest sorcerer in the world, and while I respect the power that he does have, I think he is a bit full of his own legend and people need not follow him blindly, but think for themselves and use their own brains. Not rely on someone to do things for them. Dumbledore tends to think that he knows best for everyone even though he doesn't, but people allow him to keep thinking he does because they find it easier to let him make the hard decisions for them. And when something goes wrong, they blame him and not themselves."

Hermione looked as if she wanted to defend Dumbledore but thought about it and sighed, "Okay, I guess I understand that. I want you to teach me Occlumency first, then I will try and understand your view on things. Maybe you could give me more examples of why you think the way you do."

Harry agreed and then told her what to do as he brought the knowledge out of his mind. He slowly brought it to her temple and told to be ready. Then he flicked his wrist and the silvery stream was sucked into her head. He heard her gasp, then watched as she sat straight up in her seat. For the next twenty minutes they sat in silence. Hermione in meditation and Harry reading an Ancient Runes book.

All of a sudden Hermione groaned and said, "You didn't mention the sharp pain at the base of my head."

Harry smiled, "Yeah but if I did then there was more a chance that you would not want to learn it the faster way."

Hermione smiled slightly, "Cheeky bugger. Now I understand how to build my defenses but could you give me some ideas?"

Harry smirked, "Think mundane. Magicals, at least most magicals, don't pay attention to the mundane world. Well, at least in Europe and especially in Britain, elsewhere in the world, the magical world is only behind the mundanes by a few years tops. From what I've heard, before Lily Potter took up the Muggle Studies class it was behind by almost 90 years, they didn't even know that a man walked on the moon or about airplanes and the most common thing is mispronouncing 'Electricity', that and they don't really know what it is. Lily Potter has brought it up to around the 1970s so it's a vast improvement but still, she has fallen into the habit that most magicals in Britain do, she stopped paying attention to the progress of the mundane world. And you can easily pick magicals out in a crowd in the middle of London. _Purebloods, _or at least most of them, think mundanes are nothing but beings to be stepped on. They don't even realize that they out number us, easily, by more than a thousand to one, and that they can easily eradicate us if they wanted to with bombs. Though that isn't to say that it only happens in Britain, some places in the world just barely keep up with the mundane world, just the bare minimum to blend in."

Hermione listened intently as he described the problems with this new world she was entering.

He continued, "Anyway, I have the dangerous beasts that I was telling you about as my third line of defense. The first is an invisibility cloak. The attacker can tell the mind is there but they have a harder time trying to find it. It gives them a sense of power, letting them think that my mind is not that well defended. When they are looking for my mind, my secondary defense kicks in and that is simply me consciously tracking the probe and either crushing it, pushing it out or shredding it. That is very painful for the attacker, but that is only for light scans, a full out attack will breeze by those. That is where the dangerous animals come in. That and misdirection. I have copies of my true mind-fortress all over my mindscape, all are fake except one. They all have the same defences on the outside, but on the inside, the true defenses are nearly tripled in strength and complexity."

Hermione was shocked, both at the amount of defenses his mind had and at the sheer stupidity and arrogance of the Wizarding world, "Maybe I shouldn't have joined this world, I don't do well with illogical fools. What is your mindscape set up like?"

Harry laughed, "Don't worry. You can either try and change the way things are or get a job in a different country after you graduate." he turned serious, "But I feel I should tell you, first generation witches and wizards aren't treated as well in Britain as _Purebloods_ are. Most of it has to do with the fact that Purebloods control most of the government. Like I said before, not all purebloods are bad but most of them view first generations as something that they need to clear off their shoes. Most first generations have next to no representation in government, they can't advance past a certain point in the ministry, and even if they want to leave the magical world, they can't find a job in the mundane world because their mundane education is stopped when they go to Hogwarts. Most of the laws are biased towards purebloods, most, if not all, 1st gen. magicals don't have magical guardians to watch out for their interests in the magical world, therefore, they don't know everything that purebloods and half-bloods do."

He paused for a moment thinking of a way to correctly describe his mindscape, "As for my mindscape, its set up in space. It has a mix of planets being guarded by Death Stars and Squadrons of fighters, as well as a few Star Trek Enterprises. Once on each of the planets there are dangerous animals and other things to protect my mind-fortress, ranging from Dragons and Basilisks to Trolls, werewolves, vampires and a whole host of other things that I have read about. Once inside the fortress there are even more animals and fighters. The last line of protection is a supercomputer that requires seven different passwords to get access to. It also has a defense, after three wrong passwords, the person is sent back out into space."

Hermione, at first looked disgusted and saddened, then as he explained his mind, she looked amazed, "Well that's not promising. But how did you get your mindscape like that?"

Harry said, "Lots of time and practice, but that was the easy part. The hard part was just sorting through what I wanted done. With enough concentration and understanding of the defences, what I have could be done within a month or so. You just need to have a clear picture of what you want your mind to look like. And don't worry about that stuff at school. The only people that will do that there are kids who are spoiled and just remember, 'pureblood' means that they have inbred for generations. There are some families that are okay, that I know of. The Boneses are okay, the Longbottoms are okay, the Potters, of course are okay, but they are a bit full of themselves with fame, and the Longbottoms are good friends with the Potters. The Greengrasses are okay, but play the part of blood purists so as to not ruffle the feathers of other families, but in truth, do not believe the crap about blood purity. The Blacks were bad but the newest Head is best friends with the Potters so he is okay. He disowned many members of his family. Now I think there is just his cousin Andromeda that is in the family as well as her family. There are a few other families that are okay, the only families we will need to watch out for are the Malfoys, Notts, Parkinsons and a few others, but those families always end up in Slytherin. I don't really understand that too much. None are cunning; they just threaten, blackmail, and/or use their money to get their way. To me that isn't cunning, that is just taking the easy way out."

Hermione was smiling, "Well you like to talk a lot. That reminds me, what house do you think you will be in?"

Harry chuckled and said, "Well, I have a bit of everything. I'm loyal, but only to those that have earned my loyalty, I'm brave, but I don't charge in without thought, I'm cunning and ambitious but my ambitions aren't huge, just my own, and I love knowledge for the sake of knowledge and to share it with others. If I had to guess, I will probably be in Ravenclaw but I don't know. I know I won't be welcome in Slytherin, Gryffindor would be awkward with my brother, and I'm sure that is where he will be. Hufflepuff might be an option but like I said before, I'm loyal to those that have earned my loyalty, the house of loyalty may not like the fact that I am loyal to others above my house mates, and Ravenclaw may not like me because I just like knowledge, I'll use it if I need to, but mostly I just like it for the sake of liking it, I don't flaunt it like most of that house. What about you?"

Hermione sighed, "Well from what you've told me, I won't be welcome in Slytherin because of their narrow mindedness. I think I am brave but I would not do something without thinking first and I'm like you, I'm loyal to those that have earned it. I think I will be in Ravenclaw too."

Harry nodded, then held up his book, "Have you read anything about Runes?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, I know that it is an option after our first two years so I haven't had a chance to look at it, I probably will next year to get an idea it will be like when I take it in third year. May I look at it?"

Harry nodded and handed her his book. She spent the next ten minutes trying to understand it.

"This is hopeless; I can't make heads or tails of these. Is there a 'How-To' book? Something that will give me an idea of where to start?"

Harry laughed, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but try it." Hermione looked at him oddly, "That book is a post-NEWT book on the subject. It would be impossible to understand it unless you were a prodigy or had been studying them for a few years."

Hermione huffed at him, "That wasn't nice. What are you doing with it then?"

Harry smirked, "Well I was reading it, wasn't I? I've been studying Runes for about four years. I'm somewhat gifted with them. I started when I was in Egypt, I was just looking around a library and happened upon them and was hooked ever since."

Hermione gaped at him, "How is it you know so much?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, I just understand magic at a different level than most. I don't even need a wand, truth be told. I just have one so that others don't notice anything different about me, though, really, no one really needs a wand with the right training. Not to mention that the ministry has made it seem like only the really powerful have that ability or those that have done evil rituals, and even then, the ability those people have is really only minor."

Hermione snorted, "Well, too late there Harry. You are much more mature than the average 11 year old."

"Ah. But they don't know everything about me do they? I only let people know exactly what I want them to know about me. I seem to have a weak spot for you though," Harry smirked.

Hermione blushed and looked away for a moment, "Well, umm, how did you learn wandless magic, I've read it is nearly impossible, but from what you have told me, that's a lie."

Harry snorted and nodded, "That's just what the purebloods want you to think. How do you think people did magic before? What is 'Accidental magic'? The only reason wands and spells were invented was to help teach younger magicals control, later they would be taught without wands or focuses. When purebloods found it harder and harder to master wandless magic they just started using wands and spells to make it easier on themselves, and started the rumor that only powerful magicals could use wandless, granted, wands do help with precision and for those weaker in magic, wands do add a bit of a boost, but you can get that with time and practice so you don't really need them and to those that are already fairly powerful, wands don't do anything."

Hermione nodded her agreement, "But how did you learn it?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, it was kind of instinctual for me I guess. I just felt the magic and willed it to do what I wanted. Here, let's try something."

He asked her if she knew the light spell, "Lumos." She answered that she did, and then he told her to close her eyes and cast it.

As she did he said, "Feel your magic going through your body, through your arm and out the tip of your wand, like that tingling sensation you got when you received your wand."

Hermione shook her head, "I don't feel anything." she sounded disappointed in herself.

Harry said, "Okay don't be discouraged, I didn't think you would. What I'm going to try now is, I'm going to cast a spell on you that will deaden your senses. Then I want you to cast the light spell again. Then after 30 seconds I will lift the spell from you. I want you to try and feel the magic, feel where it comes from, and follow it through your arm and out your wand."

Hermione was nervous but agreed. Harry cast the spell on her and she gasped but cast the spell. Harry assumed she felt the magic because she had a smile on her face.

After the 30 seconds was up, Harry lifted the spell and Hermione lunged at him, hugged him and said, "I felt it! It was incredible. I felt where it was coming from it's in the center of my chest. I can't believe that I didn't feel it before."

Harry laughed and hugged her back and she sat back blushing madly, "Okay, now I want you to cast the spell again and feel it without my help."

She did and smiled almost immediately, "I feel it. Now that I know what to look for, I can feel it."

Harry smiled, "Now when you get a chance, meditate, and try to find that spot in your chest, it's your magical core. If you find it and then imagine your body, try and merge the two. It will feel weird but you will be able to feel and understand your magic like never before, it's somewhat sentient, it wants to help you. Most adult magicals have found their cores but after that, they just leave them. They treat it like a onetime exercise. If you regularly merge with your magical core, it will continue to grow and mature and give you more control over your magic and even help you sense the magic around you. It's sort of like getting to know someone, once your magic knows you it will do what you want without thought or need of incantations or wand movements. Also, the size of your core, it can tell you how powerful you are. When you exhaust yourself and look for your core, it is smaller in size than when you are completely rested. The problem with using wands all the time is that it creates a habit and the magical slowly learns to lean on their wand as a crutch. Those few who have some wandless ability are usually older and have learned to recognize the way a specific spell feels and just replicate that feeling, but that only works for minor spells, the more difficult spells have to complex a feeling to replicate."

Hermione was excited to get started and told Harry to let her know when they got closer and went into a meditative state. Harry just smiled at her and went back to his book.

An hour later Hermione broke him out of his reading by squealing, "I found it! It's amazing. It's like looking at a huge multi coloured ocean!"

Harry was surprised, "It wasn't just one colour?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, it was every colour imaginable. And it seemed so big."

Harry said, "Really? Most people describe it being a large ball, and only ever one colour. I only know of one other person that described it as you did."

Hermione smiled, too excited to hear the confusion in his voice, "No it was huge and seemed to be entirely flat, at least from what I could see. I'm going back to it and try to merge with it."

Harry smiled and watched her go back to her meditation. He didn't go back to his book, he just thought of what she said. _How is her core like mine? Shadow said that it was because I'm really powerful and understand magic differently than others._

He was brought out of his thoughts by a bright light shining through Hermione. Harry assumed that she had merged with her core, the Tibetan monk who taught him this told him the same happened when he merged with his core for the first time. After that, if he did it regularly, every other time he merged with it he just got a healthy glow and a happy aura around him.

Hermione opened her eyes and smiled brightly at him, "That was brilliant! I feel everything around me." Her eyes narrowed, "Your hiding... something."

Harry smirked, "Well, I did tell you that I only let people know what I want them to know."

He released his aura and she gasped as she felt his power wash over her, "How - How are you able to hide that?"

Harry shrugged, "I just hold my magic in me. It's like holding sand; I let some slip through but hold most of it back. You will want to learn this too. Some purebloods that can sense auras may not like that you are more powerful than all of them. You may not realize it but you are nearly as powerful as me. I only have a bit more power because I've been using magic more and have been merging with my magical core longer. Though I should point out, there is a point at which your core can't expand anymore, just like any other muscle you have."

Hermione nodded and closed her eyes and Harry felt her aura diminish some, he told her when to stop, and she did.

"Do you get used to it?" she asked, sounding slightly distracted.

"Yes but it takes some getting used to. Practicing Occlumency helps. Keeping it at this level will make you look like any other slightly underpowered first year. Don't ever let anyone know everything about you. It's something that I learned; it will surprise them when they underestimate you," Harry said.

From there they spent the rest of the train ride talking about classes. Harry explained how he was going to have to tone down his abilities. Hermione asked him about Arithmancy and about other mind magics. Harry explained that he could give her his knowledge if she wanted but she felt like it was cheating. Harry told her that she would still have to read about it to learn more about it but she would have a working knowledge base of it, it would be like remembering it from years of disuse, so she agreed. Harry gave her knowledge of Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, most mind magics along with laws that related to the branches and an outline of the core classes at Hogwarts, up to third year. He left out any and all knowledge that was strictly kept within the Shadow Walkers; if he wanted to bring her in, he would need to talk to Shadow and make sure she could keep whatever secrets she learned.

By the time they were done they needed to change into their uniforms and be ready to disembark. Hermione was delighted to try her first wandless spell and shrunk her trunk to fit in her pocket.

Harry said, "Remind me later and I can make copies of all my books and give them to you. I can charm your trunk to have extra compartments and fit them in. You can have your own library. Oh and the spell for your hair is really just willing it change between a set of preselected colours and tying the strand of magic to it. I just run my hands through it to make it look cooler and select where I want the magic to go. I suggest that you mutter some nonsense then run your wand over your palms, then run them through your hair to make it look like you cast a spell."

Hermione beamed and ran one hand through a few strip of hair on the right side of her face and it turned black and cycled through black, red, blue, yellow, green, and purple.

Harry smirked and said, "I like it." Hermione smiled.

They followed the sound of the giant of a man to the docks and onto a boat. They saw Chris Potter along with a boy with sandy brown hair and another boy with bright red hair. Harry recognized them from when he was younger, Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley. They were friends of Chris' and had fun getting him in trouble when they were younger. Neville had actually lived with them for a bit while his parents recovered after being attacked after Voldemort attacked the Potters. After they recovered Neville went back home but they came over all the time. He remembered Ron because he was always following Chris around. Harry didn't like him much but his older brothers, the twins, were always funny.

He and Hermione ignored them, Hermione believed Harry after he had showed her a few of his memories. They shared a boat with a girl, Susan Bones, and a boy, Justin Finch-Fletchley. The four didn't talk to each other much, Susan was very shy, and Justin was a bit stuck up. They mostly made small talk about the houses. Though, both Susan and Justin kept glancing at their hair. Finally the large man, Hagrid, brought them to a set of doors where a very stern looking woman, whose name was apparently McGonagall gave them a speech about how "the houses were your family" Harry didn't really listen he was thinking of the fun he was going to have with his former family and Dumbles when it came out who he was, he also didn't notice her glance at his hair as she walked back into the Great Hall. He spied Chris talking with Ron and Neville.

All of a sudden a blond boy stepped over to Chris and tried to make friends with him but came off as very insulting and Harry could tell that he was a blood purist even before he introduced himself as a Malfoy. He nudged Hermione and they both watched the confrontation. Chris was just as rude to Malfoy and Harry knew they were going to try and cause problems for each other.

Finally the stern woman came back and brought them into the Great Hall, where every single person was staring at them as they made their way to the front of the Hall. Harry assumed that by doing this, it would make the first years nervous even more so than they already are, he noticed that more than a few saw his and Hermione's hair and whispered about it. He heard Hermione mouthing off facts about "Hogwarts: A History" to anyone who would listen, but mainly she kept up with him, he was happy that she wasn't paying attention to what people thought of her hair. He smiled and half listened to her. Finally they came to a stop and the stern lady explained what would happen. He heard Ron curse and say something about having to wrestle a troll. He snickered, along with Hermione; he figured the twins had told him that. The old hat the professor placed on the stool burst out in song, and a bad song at that.

Afterwards, as the woman started calling names, Harry closed his eyes and extended his senses out. He could almost hear everything in the hall. He used his magic to extend his senses and started to work out the wards around the castle. He had thought about making something that would help him navigate the castle and had the beginnings of a plan. He was brought out of his musings when he sensed something...evil, something foul, coming from the man with a gaudy purple turban sitting at the head table. He didn't do anything about it; he just filed it away for later.

All of a sudden Harry snapped his head to the front as McGonagall called Hermione's name. She gave Harry's hand a squeeze and Harry wished her luck. She walked up slowly to the stool and placed the ratty hat on her head. It took a few seconds, in which time Hermione's facial expression changed a bit, Harry assumed that the hat was talking to her, finally the hat called out "RAVENCLAW!" Harry smiled at Hermione and she smiled back, Harry subtly reminded her to take off the hat and she did, and then made her way to the Ravenclaw table. Harry continued to zone out, only paying attention when Neville Longbottom was Sorted into Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy was Sorted into Slytherin.

Finally he heard his brother's name called. He paid attention, he knew he was next. As Chris strutted up to the stool and placed the hat on his head Harry paid attention to his face. He saw a bit of panic on his face then a calm look came over him. He reached out and felt a tiny tendril of magic connected to the hat and he followed it back to the Headmaster. He saw the concerned look on the old man's face just as the look of panic went away from his brother's. Finally the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table of said house started shouting and clapping like they just won the World Cup, all of them shouting, "We got Potter!" Harry saw Chris looking smug as he made his way over to his new house.

He took his attention off of his brother and steeled himself, he knew this is where things would get difficult, and he wanted to be ready. Once the clapping was over with he brought his mental shields up and the stern woman blanched as she read, "Harry Potter."

The entire hall went silent. Harry saw Lily Potter go pale and Dumbledore's eyes sharpen. Harry heard and saw almost everything going on around him. He slowly walked up to the stool, studiously ignoring everyone, while also noting that more people whispered about his changing hair colour.

When he reached the stool he turned and said, "I haven't been a Potter for six years. I am Harry Daniels. And I would thank you to remember that."

He snatched the hat out of the professor's hands and brought it up to his head, before any could respond.

He heard a voice in his head, "Oh my. Such strong shields for one so young, how...Slytherin of you. You will need to lower them before I can sort you. Oh and what's this? Another heir."

Harry wondered who the other heir was but ignored it and said, "No. As heir to Godric Gryffindor by blood and magic and Salazar Slytherin by magic and right of Conquest, I order you to place me in Ravenclaw House."

The hat didn't say anything and Harry relented and let him in a bit, just to see his personality, "Oh! How wonderful, you would make a great Slytherin. So much cunning, and ambition, but nothing that will be welcome in Slytherin, plenty of loyalty, but only to select people and plenty of courage, but enough Ravenclaw intellect to plan out what you want to do. You seem to be a perfect blend of all four of the houses."

Finally the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" Unlike Chris, Harry didn't have lots of people shouting and clapping for him. He walked over in silence. Hermione smiled at him and hugged him as she congratulated him.

It took a moment for everyone to come out of their stupor until Harry, feeling a bit cheeky, smirked at Hermione and said, "I don't know about everyone else but I'm hungry so can we finish this up?"

That snapped the staff out of their thoughts, Hermione smacked him on the arm, and McGonagall gave him a stern look as she continued. Finally the Sorting was finished and Dumbledore said some odd words, most likely to off balance everyone, like his sense of style, and started the feast. As he ate and spoke with Hermione and a few of their house mates Harry felt the touch of Legilimency on his shields. He immediately clamped down on the probe. He quickly looked at the staff table and saw that the man in all black had his face twisted in pain, but trying to hold it in and not draw attention to himself. Harry sent him a message through his probe: _Don't try that again, it would be painful. If you want my secrets you must earn my trust. And tell your old man that if he tries it again, through you or anyone else, I will leave him a drooling, shrivelled up, husk of a wizard._

He let the probe go and the man collapsed on the table, only noticed by some of the staff, namely Lily Potter and Dumbledore. They looked slightly alarmed but did nothing to draw attention to him or themselves. Harry saw the man signal to them, telling them "later." He finished his meal in peace, talking to Hermione and a few others. He completely ignored questions about the Potters and only answered questions that did not go near his former family or about his hair. The entire time, he could feel the looks and glares from the others around the hall, particularly from the Gryffindor table.

When the feast was finished he sat through a speech from Dumbles about what was allowed and what wasn't, where they were allowed to go and weren't allowed. He perked up as the old man told them that the third floor corridor was off limits and dangerous.

He scoffed and said to Hermione, "If that isn't the fastest way to get kids to go somewhere then I don't know what is."

Hermione agreed and started to wonder about the sanity of the old man. She understood and even agreed, to a point, with Harry about authority figures weren't infallible, after a long debate with Harry on the train, in which he pointed out many instances and examples throughout history wen that was the case. When the speech was over they followed an older girl named Penelope Clearwater to the Ravenclaw Tower. Harry memorized the way there and tried to reverse it in his mind so he wouldn't get lost in the morning.

When they got to the entrance to their common room, Penelope said, "Unlike the other houses, we do not have a password. In order to get into the common room, you must solve a riddle so that we are always learning. You have three tries before you must wait for another to come along and answer."

She turned to the bronze eagle knocker and it opened its mouth and said, "I am both night and day, light and dark but too much of either and I will cease to exist. What am I?"

Harry immediately said, "Shadows. Too much light and shadows cannot exist in light, too much darkness and there is no light to create shadows. Therefore, you are a shadow."

The knocker nodded its head, "Very well thought out." then it opened the entrance.

Harry ignored the looks he got and just walked inside, Hermione following him. After promising to meet her downstairs in the morning Harry bid Hermione goodnight and went to his room. He was sharing with a Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot. He could tell as he walked in that each boy would be decent company, they would leave him be when he wanted and be decent company when he wanted to talk. Michael was your average eleven year old, curious about his roommates but knew what personal space was, though sometimes had a pompous attitude at times. Anthony was slightly messier but was respectful enough that he kept his mess to his section of the dorms. Terry was the most neat of the group. He wasn't a perfectionist but kept everything in order and tried to keep his area clean. Harry, from his time with the Shadows, was very neat. He was like Terry, he wasn't a neat freak, but he kept everything in perfect order. He also had his trunk layered with protective wards. He lay down in his four poster, practiced Occlumency, and went to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. I appreciate constructive criticism but will ignore any flames you send me. If you don't like the story then don't read it.**

Chapter 4

Harry woke up early, as he usually did. He put up a Notice-Me-Not Charm on his bed and trunk and an alarm to alert him if someone came into the room or his roommates woke up and proceeded down to his training room. He went through a series of exercises; running four miles, light weights, and going through a series of katas for the next two hours. He then left the trunk, showered before he headed down to meet Hermione. When he got there she greeted him with a hug and a smile.

Harry smiled and said, "And how are you today Hermione?"

"I'm great! I can't wait for class to start!" she smiled.

Harry smiled, leading her down to the Great Hall. After they narrowly avoided getting completely lost, Harry thought to himself, _I really need to make that map. Getting to class on time will be nearly impossible until I do. _When they got to the Great Hall it was about half full. About half way through their meal, Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and Lily and James Potter came up to them.

The Headmaster said, "Mr Potter, we need you to come with us up to my office to speak about some things."

Harry ignored them and they began to get irritated.

Hermione nudged him and he said, "What? It's not my fault they're at the wrong table. Potter is in Gryffindor, remember?" Hermione realized that he was right and let it go. She understood why he was the way he was and knew it was the Potters', and to an extent, the Headmaster's, fault.

"We are not mistaken, Mr Potter. Now please, follow us to my office," Dumbledore said.

Harry didn't move or even acknowledge the man.

Finally Flitwick caught on and asked, "Good morning, Mr Daniels, could you please follow us up to the Headmaster's office?"

Harry smiled and said, "Good morning Professor. How are you today?"

The small Charms Master smiled and said, "I am well. Thank you for asking. Now could you please come with us to the Headmaster's office?"

Harry smiled and nodded in assent.

Turning to Hermione, he asked, "Could you save me a seat next to you and grab my things off my bed for me? My bag has a Feather-Light Charm, so it shouldn't be heavy. I have a feeling that I may be a bit late."

She nodded and he got up and followed his Head of House out of the great hall, not even looking at the Headmaster or the Potters. When they got up to the office, Dumbledore offered him a lemon drop and he declined.

"Okay, what did you need me for?" Harry asked. "It is the first day, so I can't possibly have done something wrong and I would rather not be late to my first class." He looked in surprise at the others, "Um, Professor, why are Professors McGonagall, Potter and Snape as well as Auror Potter here? I can understand Professor Flitwick but not the others."

Dumbledore ignored the question about the professors and said, "Mr Potter, I asked you to come here so that we may find out what happened to you and where you have been for the last 6 years."

Harry ignored him and looked around.

After a few moments, they realized that Harry was paying no attention to them and Dumbledore said sharply, "Mr Potter! I asked you a question, would you please answer it."

Harry continued to ignore him.

"Mr Daniels, could you please answer the Headmaster's questions?" Flitwick asked.

Harry looked at him and said in mock astonishment, "He asked me a question? Where was I?"

Flitwick smiled slightly, he had never liked the way Dumbledore meddled in others' lives. "Yes he did. He asked you tell us what happened to you and where you have been for the last 6 years."

Harry pretended to be puzzled. _I am definitely having fun with this…_ "I don't remember him asking that. And I have excellent memory. Also, if he has, then he has been talking to Christopher Potter, and he isn't here." He stage whispered, "Is he getting on in his years?"

Flitwick went red, as he tried not to laugh. Dumbledore looked taken back, McGonagall looked angry, Snape just had a sneer on his face, and the Potters looked surprised that anyone would talk about Dumbledore that way.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "I assure you my boy, that I am not 'getting on in my years', as you put it. I simply asked you what happened to you and where you have been for the last few years."

"Well actually you didn't ask me, you said you asked Mr Potter here find out what happened and where he has been. There was never an actual question in there, just a statement and Mr Potter isn't here, unless of course, you mean Auror Potter." Harry smirked.

The adults looked astonished, either at his cheek or that they missed that. Harry didn't know, or care.

Dumbledore ignored the "Mr Potter" comment and continued, "Well then, Mr Potter, let me rephrase it. What happened to you and where have you been for the last six years?"

Harry simply looked around, as if trying to find something. His eyes finally landed on James Potter.

He said, "Well, Mr Potter, since your son isn't here are you going to answer the Headmaster's questions?"

"No Harry, he didn't ask me, he asked you. Now answer the question, son," James instructed.

Everyone in the room knew James had said something wrong as the temperature in the room dropped. Harry spoke calmly, but very coldly. "_Never_ call me that again. I stopped being your son the night Voldemort attacked."

After the natural squeaking, shivering, and gasping in fright because Harry had said the dreaded name, Lily looked confused. "What do you mean, Harry? You are still our son."

Harry laughed a humourless laugh and said, "No, I'm not. I may share some genetic traits with you two, but after that night you never cared about me. You only cared about Chris. And I am legally not your son anymore. Don't you remember? Lord Potter disowned me and made it permanent."

He felt a slight mental probe on his mind and strengthened his defences as the other professors looked surprised at the news.

"I don't know what you mean, my boy. Your parents love you very much. They only want what is best for you," Dumbledore continued.

Harry laughed again and shoved the probe out of his mind violently, which caused Snape to fall to the floor, unconscious. "Keep your pet Death Eater on his leash. The next time he tries to invade my mind, I won't be so nice. And as for my family, they don't love me, and if they wanted the best for me then why did they agree with you to have my magic stripped away and given to my brother? Why did they disown me simply to let my brother become the sole Potter heir?"

The other professors looked appalled at the news that Snape used Legilimency on Harry and looked even more upset at the news that Harry was going to have his magic taken away.

"We only wanted both of you to survive," Lily said sadly. "You didn't stay long enough to hear us say that we wouldn't have sent you away!"

Harry sneered, "Yes I did. You would have taken away the only thing that made me happy and force me to watch as everyone else around me used it. What sort of twisted people are you? What did I ever do to you to make you want to torture me like that?"

Lily and James didn't know what to say, McGonagall and Flitwick look at them with rage. How could they decide to do that to their own son?

"We did not know that you had any, you never did any accidental magic, but I knew you had to have some since your name was down for Hogwarts. We just assumed that didn't have enough to do anything. A level just above a Squib," Dumbledore said.

Harry snarled, "Don't use that word around me. The only place in the world where they use those terms is in Europe and even then it's mostly just in Britain. I have an American saying that you should hear, 'Don't assume because it just makes an Ass out of You and Me.' I never had accidental magic because I had _control_. By the time I left I could do most Second Year spells and even some Third Year spells if I tried hard enough. Whenever I did do magic you thought it was Chris, and when I told you you just told me to go away and thought I was taking credit for his magic. Did you ever notice that after I left, he stopped having bouts of 'accidental magic'?"

"We thought it was because he missed you," Lily said tearfully.

Harry snorted, "That little prick didn't miss me, and if he did, then it was because he couldn't blame me for what he did anymore."

The adults looked astonished at him, both for his attitude and his language, Dumbledore said, "I'm sorry my boy, but no one has control of their magic that soon in life. It takes mental control that you couldn't possibly have at that age."

Harry simply shrugged, "That is what you believe, and you are entitled to your own opinion. I will stick with the opinions of magic users that have been around much longer than you and are more powerful than you, not to mention my own experience using magic to get food for myself when those two," he jerked a finger at the Potters, "forgot to feed me. Oh and by the way, I am not, never was, nor will I ever be, 'your boy' so stop calling me that. I am Lord Daniels of the Daniels family and would appreciate it if you called me by my proper name."

James replied scathingly, "Albus is the strongest wizard alive; you are making that up. And how are you any part of the Daniels family?"

"Well, that is what he wants you to think," Harry smiled. "I know for a fact that there are at least three wizards in Japan that are more powerful than Dumbledore, four in India, seven in Africa, two in Iceland, five in South America, and at least three, that I know of and have met, in the States. As to how I am the Lord of the Daniels family, well I have you to thank for that, Lord Potter. See if you hadn't disowned me, I wouldn't have been able to claim the Headship of any family because I wasn't emancipated. The Daniels family is related to the Potters, but the stipulation is that Lord Potter can't be Lord Daniels. Jackson Daniels, the last Lord Daniels, died during World War I and the position hadn't been filled since then. When you disowned me and didn't name someone who was to take me, I was emancipated so I could claim it, along with a few others."

Dumbledore said, "Well, your disownment is being reversed so you will have to give the Head position of the Daniels family and the other families to someone else. I would be more than happy to be the proxy."

"No, don't you remember?" Harry smirked. "The disownment was permanent. It can't be reversed. Besides, on the off chance that I ever need to have a proxy for any of my Head positions, I have others that will do it, and do it as a favour to me, not to get more political clout and control over me. And since the Potters were the ones to disown me, I would not be placed in their care, even if my emancipation could be reversed."

Dumbledore sighed, "I was not doing it for political clout; I was merely trying to help, as a favour to you. And the disownment can be reversed and when it is, you will no longer be emancipated."

Harry sneered, "Just like you were trying to help when you brought the idea of taking my magic and giving it to Chris? And if you need a dictionary, I can get one for you or one of the professors can conjure one. Permanent means that it cannot be reversed. Even if you could, you would still need to get my emancipation revoked in all of the ICW countries and a few others that the Convention respects the laws of, not to mention the Goblin Nation because I am emancipated by their laws as well."

Dumbledore and the Potters slumped, the old man said, "Why do you not wish to go back to your family? They love you and miss you."

"They do not love me, or miss me; they just want me for my magic, and the money and political power from the families I am Head of. If they ever loved me, it was before Halloween '81 and it is a bit too late for them to try now. Once I am back under their, and by extension, your, control you will transfer my magic into your precious Boy-Who-Lived and take the money away. Without my magic, I wouldn't be able to Head the families I am in control of. That is why I left in the first place. Oh that reminds me," he took out a coin bag and chucked it at James Potter, "That is what I owe you. I took that from Chris' room the night I left, you don't have to count it out; all twenty Galleons are in there. I would have used my own money, but I didn't have any and he just had it laying there in his room. Since he had lost more bags just like it before, I figured that he wouldn't miss that one."

McGonagall balked at how much a five-year-old had lying around his room. James eyed the boy seriously. Lily looked on sadly, as tears rolled down her cheeks. Flitwick looked angry at how the young man in front of him was being treated, both in the past and currently. Dumbledore was thinking of how to get the boy on his side but couldn't think of anything.

"Where have you been for the last few years?" he finally asked.

"Here, there, a bit of everywhere. I've just been with friends and my true family."

Dumbledore didn't like that answer at all. "Harry, I must insist you tell me."

Harry smirked, "Insist all you want, it does not pertain to school business therefore it doesn't concern you. And before you try it, don't, remember what I did to the grease bat over there." The others looked at the form of Snape, still out cold on the floor.

"You must learn to forgive, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Your parents made a mistake, but everyone makes mistakes."

A surprised Harry said, "Oh, I don't care that they threw me out of the family. I actually thanked them when I finally got away. I don't care one way or another that they treated me like dirt and doted on Chris. I feel apathy for them, they just exist to me. I'm not angry at them, I feel nothing for them. If they were to keep living, then fine, I won't stop them. If they suddenly dropped dead, then oh well, I would even save them if they were in danger and I was in a position to help, but that is what I would do for anyone. Their existence does not matter to me at all; I only care for those that have showed that they care for me. Words are meaningless to me, only actions matter. Also, I noticed you omitted your own choices in that little guilt riddled sentence, putting all the blame on them and none on yourself, very Slytherin of you, sir. Now, since we have that cleared up, can I go to class now?"

Everyone in the room looked taken aback by his cheek, but Dumbledore looked at him hard, "That is a very dark outlook, Harry."

Harry snorted and started walking out of the room. He nodded to Professor McGonagall and Flitwick. Just as he walked out he said, "Go suck a lemon drop, old codger," ignoring the stunned looks from the others in the office.

He made his way to Herbology, arriving about half-way through the class. Hermione quickly filled him in.

All during lunch and dinner, the staff table looked at him with mixed looks, Snape looked murderous, and McGonagall looked confused at what to think; on one hand, he had disrespected the Headmaster, but on the other hand, he had reason to. Flitwick looked proud at him for sticking up for himself. Dumbledore and Lily Potter looked at him with sad looks. Dumbledore was thinking feverishly about how to get him on his side. Noticing Harry sat with Ms Granger and seemed to be friendly with her, he thought that would be a good place to start.

Hermione was talking with Harry about the first day of classes so far, when she felt a small pressure on her mind. Due to the knowledge transfer from Harry, she immediately knew what it was. She tightened her defences, informed Harry, and they started looking around for the person attacking her mind. Looking at the staff table, she saw that the Headmaster was staring at her and Harry. She shoved the probe away and watched as the Headmaster grimaced and held his head. She was shocked and appalled that Professor Dumbledore would invade her mind like that. She knew in that instant that at least some of what Harry had said about the old man was true and she started to drastically change her view of those in authority. Harry knew the Headmaster was trying to get something to use against him so that he could control him, but Harry was a step ahead of him. He had already mailed off a letter to Hermione's parents detailing what she could expect from the stupid bigots in power and offered to put their whole family under his family's protection and they had accepted. Now, the old man couldn't take advantage of the fact that she had no magical guardian. As a part of his family, or at least a protectorate, her magical guardian was the Head of the House, which was Harry.

The weeks passed by with Harry and Hermione outstripping their classmates by the end of the first two weeks, thanks to Harry's training, Hermione's natural brilliance, and the knowledge transfer Hermione got from Harry. During this time, Chris Potter, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom had learned very quickly not to cross Harry. Draco Malfoy had learned as well.

His brother and his friends had tried to go back to getting him in trouble but always seemed to fail. Harry would simply hand his wand over and have it checked and, if necessary, give his memory of what happened. He would then suggest that they do the same thing; they would refuse and were given detention. After the first three times, they finally stopped and tried pranking him, which failed every time and back fired on them. One prank was meant to make his robes disappear when he entered the Great Hall; they saw him go in and when nothing happened they followed, subsequently suffering the effects themselves. They were given a week's worth of detention when it was found out that they had set up the prank. People just assumed that they messed it up and ended up pranking themselves.

The scion of the Malfoy family tried to befriend Harry, but he turned him down after the blond Slytherin insulted Hermione. From then on he insulted Harry and Hermione every chance he got. After it happened twice in one week he received a Howler from his father. He found out that Harry had sent a letter of reparation to the Head of the Malfoy family for insults to their Head of House and a protectorate of their family. According to Ancient and Noble family customs in Britain, even if they were archaic customs that hadn't been used in a few centuries, the Malfoy family had to forfeit the Daniels family a price of 500 Galleons for insulting the family's Head and 250 Galleons for insulting a protectorate of their family. That equaled 1,500 Galleons for insulting Harry twice and Hermione twice. From that moment on, he left them alone, as did most of the Slytherin purebloods. A few came around and befriended them, specifically Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, and Blaise Zabini. The three Slytherins studied with the two Ravenclaws in the Library a few times and occasionally had meals with them. One thing seemed to remain the same: some of the students resented both Harry and Hermione because of their knowledge and insulted them behind their backs.

School was going well for them. Only Potions was unbearable. Snape seemed to hate Harry for what he did in the Headmaster's office, but Harry quickly de-clawed him. After the second week of dealing with his blatant bullying, favouritism of Slytherin, and his non-existent teaching, Harry sent a letter off to the School Board requesting that a new teacher be found because his money was being wasted since he wasn't learning anything, that or a refund for the class and his supplies. When his letter was ignored he sent another one off to the Daily Prophet, detailing what went on in his classes with memories as evidence.

The following day the story was in the Prophet and the Great Hall was treated to a show of nearly a hundred letters descending on the Headmaster. Nearly all of them were Howlers. They all had the same general message: fix the problem or they would demand a refund and pull their children out of Hogwarts and send them elsewhere. When the Board heard about this they were quick to pressure Dumbledore into fixing the problem. During all of the chaos surrounding the school, Harry and Hermione kept their heads down and studied and he continued to teach her more about his skills. Dumbledore eventually was forced to put Snape on probation, which removed his ability to deduct or distribute points and give detentions; they all needed to be reviewed by the offenders' Head of House. During all of this, the Headmaster continued to try and get Harry under his control and the Potters continued to try and entice him to come back to their family. His attempts included more meetings in his office, where he tried to guilt him into spending time with his former family, which more often than naught, ended with Harry insulting him and walking away.

The surprising event was their first flying lesson. During said lesson, Longbottom's broom took on a life of its own and he ended up falling off of it. When he was being escorted to the hospital wing by Madam Hooch, Draco Malfoy picked up a Remembrall Longbottom had been sent by his grandmother. He started making fun of him and then took off. Chris went after him, even though Madam Hooch had told them to stay on the ground. When Malfoy had let it go, Chris had chased after it, but his broom bucked and sent him falling to the ground faster than anyone could think. Harry decided to play nice and slowed his fall down. When he was only about five feet above the ground, he let the boy fall, Summoning the Remembrall to his hand. When McGonagall came out, she saw him lying on the ground and proceeded to tear into him and deduct fifty points for his actions.

She turned to the rest of the class and asked, "Do any of you know why he was up there?"

Harry stepped forward, holding the Remembrall out to her. "He was flying around because Malfoy had taken this from Longbottom and told us that he was going to put it up on the roof. Potter tried to go after him and fell. I slowed his fall but then had let him go when I couldn't hold the spell long enough. Then I Summoned this."

McGonagall looked surprised that a mere first year could do spell work like that.

She said, "Very well. Thirty points to Ravenclaw for helping another student, another twenty for retrieving lost property and telling the truth and another thirty for superb spell work. Mr Malfoy, you have detention for two nights and I am taking twenty points from Slytherin for disobeying instructions."

With that she walked away, leaving the Ravenclaws smiling and patting Harry on the back for getting them eighty points in less than ten minutes. Afterwards, Harry taught Hermione how to handle a broom. She wasn't very good because of her fear of heights, but Harry helped her with control so that she could work on going higher at her own pace. For Hermione's birthday, September 19th, Harry got her a study syllabus for the four years leading up to OWLs from other countries along with an elegant Eagle Feather Quill and a Beginner's Guide to Arithmancy.

The most interesting and funniest incident happened about a month after school started. Towards the end of September the school woke up as normal and went down to breakfast. From the very beginning the more observant students could tell something was wrong at the Head table. It seemed that most of the staff was talking furiously about something, while the Headmaster sat in his chair frowning in frustration.

Finally Snape seemed to get fed up, he stood up from his chair and said, "Someone has put a curse on the Headmaster and they must come forward immediately to remove it."

Harry grinned impishly at Hermione and raised his hand.

Snape saw it and sneered, "Of course it would be you, just as arrogant as-"

Harry interrupted him, "Excuse me Professor Grease-stain, but I haven't done anything. I was just curious if you could tell us what the curse does. Maybe you should think before accusing others. After all, wouldn't want accusations about you going around the school now, would you?" he finished, scratching his left forearm.

Snape turned a deep purple at the name, then paled as he scratched his arm, but McGonagall said sharply, "Mr Daniels, please refrain from insulting professors."

Harry shrugged, "I'll show as much respect as I am shown. You and Professor Flitwick and a few other teachers show me respect so I show it to you. Snape does not. Neither does the Headmaster with his constant attempts to make me do something against my will and where he has no say in the matters."

McGonagall sighed, she knew it was true but did not like the disrespect, she continued, "Be that as it may, a professor deserves respect."

"I disagree; the position deserves respect; the person in that position needs to earn that respect. Also, one would need to actually teach to be a teacher or professor. I do not classify 'Directions are on the board, you have two hours' as a recognized teaching method and neither does the ICW. Anyway, back to the problem at hand, what is the curse?"

McGonagall sighed, it seemed there was never any winning with Mr Daniels. "As Professor Snape was saying, it seems someone thought it would be a funny prank to place a spell on the Headmaster to not allow him to hear words spoken in English. He can speak English, but does not understand it, to him, it is a foreign language."

"How can you explain that Potter? You are the only one who claims to have traveled to other countries," Snape sneered.

Harry stared around and realized everyone was staring at him. "Why are you all staring at me? I'm not Potter, he is." He pointed to the Gryffindor table.

"No, Mr Daniels, he, like the Headmaster, is referring to you," Flitwick sighed.

Harry looked puzzled, but Hermione could tell he was enjoying himself, "But why? I have said many times that I am not a Potter. I know a few potions' fumes that can cause memory loss and feeble-mindedness but for most, there is no reason for them to be brewed in a school."

Most of the students and some staff members had to jam their fists in their mouths to stop from laughing. Though the Weasley twins held their laughter in, they did fall out of their seats.

Snape roared, "I am not feeble-minded!"

"No need to yell, the Headmaster is not deaf, he is just not hearing in the correct language," Harry said with a shrug.

When he was done, Dumbledore shouted, causing those around him to flinch at the volume, "WHAT IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT? HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT WHAT HAPPENED? WHY AM I ONLY HEARING MANDARIN?"

"Maybe I was wrong," Harry shrugged, switching to Mandarin. "Professor, there is no need to yell, we can hear you fine and are trying to figure out what is wrong."

When everyone looked at him strangely, he said, "What? I know a lot of languages. For example, I can speak Mandarin, Hebrew, Hindi, Native American, all variations of Japanese and Chinese, Romanian, Bulgarian, French, Gobbledegook, and a few others."

The other Ravenclaws gawked at him. How had someone so young learned so many languages?

All of a sudden Dumbledore's ears glowed white and a pair of earmuffs appeared on them, which he took off. A few remarked at the fuzzy pink things and the Headmaster's eyes lit up. He exclaimed, "Ahh! That is much better. And where did these come from?"

"It was Potter; I know it was; only he knows that language you were hearing," Snape snapped.

Harry snorted, "Please, Chris couldn't spell his shoelaces together without help. Not to mention he can't even speak proper English."

"I was talking about you," Snape sneered.

Harry put a puzzled look on his face and said, "Then why did you say Potter? This isn't looking good for your claim of not being feeble-minded."

Snape turned purple and sputtered, "Because you are Potter! No matter what you say, you are a Potter and you are responsible. AND I AM NOT FEEBLE-MINDED!"

Harry sneered back at him, "Well, if you can offer proof other than your blatant dislike for me and your obvious bias towards any who are not in Slytherin, then I will surrender my wand, but if you are just going to accuse me without proof, then I will just give you a bit of advice, it is better to say nothing and look like a fool than to open your mouth and prove it. Also, I haven't been a Potter since I was five, I was permanently disowned. That means it would be illegal for me to claim affiliation with the Potter family directly. The Daniels family is related a few generations back, but that is it. I hope you can get it through your greasy hair that I am not, nor will I ever be, a Potter again."

"Harry, you must respect Professor Snape," Dumbledore scolded.

Harry looked at him for a moment and sighed, "I am not having this conversation again. Check my wand. I want to finish my breakfast in peace and he won't stop being the back end of a donkey until I prove him wrong."

With that, he took his wand out of its holster and threw it at the Head table, returning to his half-eaten breakfast, again ignoring the shocked faces of the staff and students. It was found that his wand did not cast any spells regarding translation spells or anything they could think of that related to the earmuffs.

He was given his wand back and he added, "I would suggest you check the wand signature. That might tell you something."

The whole Great Hall watched as the string of magic pulsed from the earmuffs and attached itself to Snape's wand.

Dumbledore said, "Well, Severus, it appears that your wand cast the spell to hide the earmuffs and to translate spoken language into a foreign one."

"I DID NOT! POTTER!"

Harry continued to eat, not paying attention. Snape stormed up to him and gripped him by the back of his neck. All of a sudden Harry flipped around, grabbed Snape's wrist and bent it back, snapping it. He spun around to Snape's back, taking the arm with him and Snape's head smashed into the table. Ignoring the gasps of surprise, Harry leaned down by Snape's ear and whispered menacingly, "Don't EVER try that again. The next time, I won't stop with your wrist."

He then stood straight, picked Snape up and tossed him back to the staff table with a bit of magic in his arms to give him strength.

He saw Dumbledore starting up to rant and cut him off, "Don't even start, Headmaster. Nowhere in the Hogwarts' rule book does it say that it is alright for a Professor to manhandle students. I was defending myself and am willing to go to the Board with memories to give as evidence. Now, instead of trying to fight me on this, why don't you take Snape to the Hospital Wing to fix that wrist and concussion?"

With that he and Hermione walked out of the flabbergasted Great Hall.

As they rounded the corner, those in the Great Hall could hear Hermione as she said, "You enjoyed that a bit too much, Harry." Harry just laughed.

Later that day, as Harry and Hermione made their way from Charms to DADA, the Weasley twins came around a corner and exclaimed enthusiastically, "Harry!"

"We were just..."

"Looking for you!"

Harry smiled, "Hey guys what's up?"

One of the twins replied, "We were..."

"Just wondering how..."

"You managed to..."

"Prank the Headmaster?"

Harry smiled, "Well, what makes you think it was me?"

"Oh please," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry, everyone in school knows that it was you. The only reason you haven't been assigned a detention is because no one can prove it."

The twins nodded in unison. Harry smirked, "Well, if I had done something like that, and I'm not saying that I did, I would say I learned it in Japan, or variations of it. A lot of teens in Japan like to prank people and I sure learned a lot when I was there."

The twins smirked at Harry but made a mental note not to prank him unless they were prepared for him to get them back with a better prank.

Once Halloween arrived he was used to the rhythm of things. That morning the Great Hall was decorated spectacularly for the feast that evening. After Charms with the Puffs in the morning, they had transfiguration with the Lions. They were going over Colour Changing Charms and Harry was paired up with a Gryffindor boy named Dean Thomas. Hermione was paired with Weasley. Harry already knew the lesson so he was helping Dean out a bit, which the boy thanked him for. He shrugged off the thanks and instead watched Hermione and Weasley. He saw how Weasley was waving his wand all over the place, nearly taking a small Gryffindor girl's eye out. Harry recognized her as Padma Patil's sister, Parvati.

Hermione told Weasley to stop and tried to help him by correcting his wand movement and pronunciation of the spell. She went on to explain what he was doing wrong with the wand movements and he challenged her to do it. She did it perfectly and was awarded points for it having no trace of the original colour. After class, they were walking out when Harry heard Weasley talking to Chris and Longbottom, saying that Hermione was a nightmare and that she didn't have any friends, the other boys laughed and agreed. He turned to tell her not to listen but only saw her running away; he even caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes.

He rounded on Weasley and said, "You are an ungrateful jackass! She was trying to help you and you go and insult her. She does have friends, I am one of them. You better hope that she is okay, because if she isn't then I will come back for you." As he finished his eyes glowed an angry green and an unnatural wind whipped at his robes and hair.

The other students looked frightened, including Longbottom, but Weasley and Chris snorted, Chris trying to hit Harry to get him out of their way. Harry grabbed his hand and twisted it behind his back, Weasley tried to hit him to release Chris, but Harry used his other hand to snatch his wrist and twisted it behind his back as well, then slammed their heads together. Before anyone could blink Harry had both boys in pain and not able to do anything. He then simply threw them to the side.

"You can both be sure that your parents will be hearing about this; you too Longbottom."

With that he ran after Hermione, the others parting like the Red Sea before Moses as he went by. He thought he lost her until he caught a glimpse of bushy hair around a corner. He ran after her and saw her go into a girls' bathroom.

He ran to the door and said, "Hermione! Come out. Don't listen to those jackasses; they don't know what they were talking about. Please come out and come with me to the feast."

"But what if they were right?" he heard her sniffle. "I am just a bushy haired, buck toothed know-it-all."

Harry said, "Then you're my know-it-all. You are my friend, Hermione. Your hair isn't bushy; it just fits your personality. Even if you don't like it, it will change as you get older. You will grow into your teeth. You are pretty, Hermione, and don't let anyone else tell you differently. You like to help others with what you know and you know a lot, that doesn't make you a know-it-all, that means you just have a thirst for knowledge and are kind enough to share it. If they can't appreciate that then they can fail all their classes and make poor wizards, while you are being a great witch in whatever career you choose."

He heard a slight chuckle when he explained her hair away.

Then she said, "Thank you, Harry. You're my friend too. Go on to the feast, I'll be there soon; I just need to get myself cleaned up."

Harry smiled, "No I'll wait for you. Besides, you can't be anything but beautiful."

"No, go on," Hermione said, smiling. "I'll be there soon, save me a seat and some pie."

Harry sighed, "Okay, but hurry, it won't be much fun without you. I'll wait for you."

He walked away, knowing he made her feel better. He made his way into the Great Hall and noticed that more than a few students were watching him and the Gryffindors were glaring daggers at him. He ignored them and made his way to his usual spot at the table.

As the feast commenced, Harry pulled two plates in front of him and started filling them with food, but didn't touch them. When asked, he simply said, "I'm waiting for Hermione." The rest of his House left it at that. About fifteen minutes in, Professor Quirrel came running in and shouting about a troll. He then fainted... the wrong way. Harry made a mental note to figure out what was wrong with him sooner rather than later.

Dumbledore told everyone to go back to their dormitories but Harry rose and objected, "Uh, Sir, aren't the Slytherin common rooms in the dungeons?"

Dumbledore blinked and said, "Correct, Slytherins are to stay here and prefects are to guard the door."

The Slytherin prefects nodded and the rest watched as the rest of the school made their way to their respective common rooms. More than a few Slytherins gave Harry an appreciative glance but he saw none of them as he raced to the girl's lavatory, to Hermione.

She turned around when he entered and said, "Harry! This is the girls' lavatory. What are you doing?"

"There is a troll that got in the castle; we are supposed to go back to the dorms."

An awful smell swept into the bathroom. Harry heard a thumping sound getting closer and pulled Hermione behind him. They watched in horror as a massive troll came into the lavatory dragging its club behind it.

Hermione squeaked in fright. Harry turned to her. "Stay behind me and run when I tell you to."

She was frozen in fright and didn't acknowledge his words. Harry sighed. She wouldn't be much help. He let some more of his aura out, trying to scare the troll away. It didn't work. The beast just came forward and Harry had to think fast. He flooded his body with magic and ran forward, jumping up and kicking the troll in the chin, making its head snap backward. The troll stumbled a bit, roaring in anger. It swung the club at Harry, who ducked under it with super speed. He gave up on physically dominating the brute and pulled out his wand, just in case he had to give proof, and sent an over-powered Bludgeoner at it. The troll went flying backward and hit the wall with a dull thud. The great brute started to slowly get back up but Harry quickly ran over to its head, powering his fist with a massive Stunning Spell and punched it in the head, rendering it unconscious.

Dashing back to Hermione he asked, "Are you okay?"

Hermione simply nodded and said in a small voice, "How did you do that?"

"Flooded my body with magic and kicked it. When that didn't work a simple Bludgeoner followed up with a solid punch to the head mixed with a Stunner. Easy really."

Hermione shook her head to clear it and said, "How can you say that was easy? And if the Headmaster said for everyone to go back to their dorms, why are you here?"

Harry looked at her with an "Are you serious?" expression. "Hermione, I wasn't about to leave you wandering around the castle by yourself with a troll walking around. I came back here to get you so that we could go back together. As for the troll, well, yeah that was easy, with what I know."

Hermione had tears in her eyes. He had run all the way from the Great Hall and risked coming across the troll just to make sure she was safe. She lunged forward and hugged him hard.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Harry smiled and squeezed her, "Any time, Mione. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now let's go before the professors find us."

They stuck to the shadows and quickly made their way back to Ravenclaw Tower, making it back without any problems to sit on the couch by the fire. About half an hour later, Professor Flitwick came in and told all of the students to report back to the Great Hall.

Harry got up and helped Hermione to her feet, "Maybe we can eat something now."

"Didn't you eat?" Hermione asked, looking at him oddly.

Harry shook his head and started for the portrait hole, "No, I was waiting for you."

He continued walking and didn't see Hermione's smile. She turned him to face her and hugged him hard. Then they made their way down to the Great Hall, both blushing a bit.

When they got there they watched as the other students filed in. Harry's stomach rumbled as he saw that food was still on the table. He immediately went for the platter of roast beef. Just as he was about to dig in, Dumbledore stood up and he had to pay attention. He groaned in frustration and turned to face the Headmaster with a sullen expression. Hermione smirked at him and turned to listen.

"Earlier to night, somehow a Mountain Troll gained entrance to the castle. We asked all of you to return to your dormitories. Not long ago, we found the troll in a girls' lavatory. It was unconscious. Does anyone have anything to say?"

Harry simply stared intently at the roast beef.

Hermione nudged him and said, "Harry! They want to know who took care of the troll. Aren't you going to say anything?"

"No, I just want to eat. Look, the roast beef is begging me to eat it!" Harry moaned, shaking his head.

"But what about the troll?"

"Meh... I don't care."

Their conversation wasn't noticed, but Hermione looked up and saw Dumbledore looking around. Across the hall, at the Gryffindor table, Chris, Weasley and Longbottom looked at each other and Chris stood up.

"We did it professor," he declared pompously.

Dumbledore looked at them closely and Lily gasped.

"And why did you disobey directions?" asked the Headmaster.

Chris boasted, "We heard there were girls trapped in there and decided to go help them."

Hermione nudged Harry, who was seemed to be having a staring contest with the roast beef, and said, "Harry, they're taking credit for what you did!"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said dismissively, waving his hand.

"Yes it does," Hermione insisted, standing up. "Headmaster, they're lying. Harry did it."

Chris scoffed, "Yeah, how did he do it then?"

"Well how did you do it?" Hermione challenged.

Chris smirked, "I overpowered it with my magic."

Hermione snorted, but Dumbledore said, "Mr Potter, would you care to tell us how you did this."

"I just did, sir," Chris said, confused. "I overpowered the brute with my superior magic."

Dumbledore said, "Not you, the other Mr Potter."

Flitwick said, "Headmaster, we have been over this and I would like to hear the explanation tonight. He has told you many times and given valid reasoning; he will not answer to that name, he is not a Potter, and hasn't been one for quite a while. Call him by the name he gave you and the name he legally took six years ago."

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed. "I was simply calling him by his proper name, if he wants to continue being chi-"

Harry interrupted him, "No Headmaster, I am not being childish, that would be you. Lord Daniels is who I am. I have been Lord Daniels for six years now. You just refuse to listen when I tell you to call me by my proper name. Also, I was disowned, so even if I wasn't Lord Daniels, I would be Harry No Name, I will never be a Potter again. Now since you won't let this go so I can eat, here."

He walked up and held his wand to his temple and pulled out a silvery substance and then flicked it into the air with a jabbing motion with his wand and snapped, "Memoria Externa!" The whole hall watched the memory play out, from the moment Quirrel came running into the Great Hall, to the moment the troll fell. Harry took the opportunity to attack the roast beef at last.

When the memory finished playing out everyone looked at him in awe. Dumbledore asked, "Why were you there in the first place, Mr Potter?"

"Enough, Albus, call him by his correct name!" McGonagall snapped.

Harry looked at her and said, "Thank you Professor. You do know that he is doing it on purpose, right? He does it to off-balance people, just like with the weird words at the welcoming feast and the horribly coloured robes and his eccentric personality in general. It keeps people guessing. Though, in this it kind of reminds me of a petulant child who is not getting his way and so keeps acting a certain way until he gets what he wants."

He ignored the gasps and glares sent his way, he continued, "Anyway, I was there because those three jackasses over there," he pointed to Chris, Longbottom, and Weasley, "said some very rude and hurtful things to Hermione, after she helped Weasley in Transfiguration class. I went after her, told her not to listen to ungrateful pricks and she said she would meet me at the feast. She was going to clean herself up before coming. When Professor Quirrel came in and told us about the troll, she hadn't made it here so I went to warn her. We were leaving when it came walking in."

Weasley jumped up and said, "I wasn't ungrateful, I didn't ask for her help!"

Harry sneered, "No, but I'm sure that Parvati appreciated the fact that it stopped you from flinging your wand around like an idiot and nearly taking out her eye."

Parvati blushed as McGonagall turned her glare at the three Gryffindors. "Thirty points from Gryffindor for verbally attacking a student. And an additional forty points from Gryffindor for taking credit for something you didn't do."

"Forty?" Weasley cried.

McGonagall then snapped, "Each! Next time do not try and take credit for something you didn't do." The rest of their House glared at them for losing so many points.

"Mr Daniels, what was that spell that you used to show the memory?" Flitwick enquired.

Harry grinned, "I learned that in America, it was still being made by the spell caster at the time, but she said that I could use it after she had finished it. That was a year ago, so it should be filed with the American Magical Government and ICW."

Flitwick was puzzled. "I do not remember reading about it."

Harry said, "Doesn't surprise me. The British ministry tends to censor things it doesn't like and they have a great amount of dislike for the American Magicals. They are way ahead of Britain; actually, most countries are really. Not to mention the British Ministry of Magic has major control issues. Now, I'm going to eat my food and no one is to touch it. Knocking out the troll left me ravenously hungry."

Hermione said, "Why? It was just a few spells."

Harry explained, "When I punched and kicked it, I used a lot of my magic. I focused all of my magic into my legs and my fists; think of it as merging my most of my core with one body part and using all that power in one spell. So I feel like I haven't eaten all day. Now, no one is to touch this platter, I claim it as mine!"

The whole hall watched as he attacked the roast beef with vigour, yet most Gryffindors noted that he still kept his manners and did not eat like a Ron, err... pig. Harry paid them no attention as he had a fork in both hands and traded off eating with them. He watched as a small hand holding a fork slowly crept closer to his platter and then snagged one of the medium size pieces.

He looked up and saw that the hand belonged to Hermione, who took a dainty bite out of the stolen meat.

He smiled, "Okay, you don't count, but," he looked at everyone else staring at him, "No One Else!"

As he ate, at the Faculty Table, McGonagall shook her head and stood, "Mr Daniels."

Harry sighed, thinking, _I'm never going to finish my food_. He turned and said, "Yes?"

The Transfiguration professor smiled and said, "fifty points to Ravenclaw for amazing courage and loyalty to a friend."

Professor Flitwick spoke up, "And another ten points for demonstrating a new spell that even we did not know."

Harry scratched the back of his neck and said, "Uh... thanks, Professors. Professor Flitwick, sir, there are lots of spells that aren't really well known in Britain. If you want, I could contact a friend in the U.S. and give you a full list, though they will mostly be spells from the States. I'd have to contact my other friends in other countries so it could be a while."

At this point Dumbledore spoke up, "I'm sure there are not that many spells that are new in America, otherwise I would have been notified at the last ICW meeting."

"Not really; a friend of mine goes to most of the meetings and they told me that most spells are just added as footnotes to the meeting folders, unless it is an important breakthrough," Harry smirked. "Otherwise, you have to look for them, and even then, there are just brief descriptions about them. You would need to talk to the specific member from the country the spell came from for details. My friend sends me new spells all the time from the States, and others send me spells from other countries. Though, your ministry would classify most of the spells as borderline Dark because they don't want many people learning more advanced magic. It's why Britain is so far behind the other countries. Really, the only reason I am here is because a few of the families that I am Head of require me to go to Hogwarts, otherwise I would be learning from tutors that my friends and family know."

The other professors looked at him in wonder whilst Dumbledore looked troubled. Lily Potter didn't know what to think, her other son came back, yet wanted nothing to do with his family and somehow he had friends all over the world and was emancipated in nearly every country, including the Goblin Nation. She understood his anger but thought he should be happy to be welcomed back. He didn't even think of them as his true family, just as his relatives.

Harry went back to eating and ignored everyone else. He ate for what seemed like forever and most people couldn't believe that he was on his third platter of meat.

A Third Year Ravenclaw, Cho Chang, asked, "Umm, Harry, how come you're eating so much?"

Harry swallowed and said, "Think of what I did as focusing most of my magic in one spell and then speeding up my metabolism to increase the power even more. I need to replace all the energy that I burnt up with the spells I used."

An older Ravenclaw said, "I only saw one spell though. What other spells did you use?"

Harry shrugged, "When I kicked it, I used a Banishing Spell, then my Bludgeoner and when I punched it, I used a massively over-powered Stunner. Enough to Stun most of the people in here for the better part of the day."

"There is no way that a firsty could have that much power. You would have passed out from magical exhaustion," a Slytherin scoffed.

"You're allowed to have your own opinion, even if it goes against evidence given. If I'm right, it probably took most of the staff casting an Ennervate on it at the same time to get it to wake up." When students looked up at the staff table they saw a few professors nodding. "Though, if it helps any, there are more efficient spells in the world that give the same effect but require less magic. It all depends on how you focus your magic and the spell used. For example, the Romanian version of 'Petrificus Totalus' is shorter to say and focuses your intent and therefore your magic more than the former simply because the word is more direct. It's even better when spoken in a magical language like Gobbledegook. It adds power. I once saw a Parselmouth use Parseltongue to cast a simple, low-powered Reducto at a wall and there wasn't even dust left."

He heard people muttering and knew what they were saying, "And before you get all high and mighty about Parselmouths being evil, let me tell you, they are no more evil than anyone else. It is a gift they are born with, just like magic is a gift. In Australia, India, the Amazon, and many other places in the world, they are revered for it because there are so many poisonous snakes in those areas and they make it safer for people to live. The only reason it was banned here and given a bad reputation is because the purebloods in charge were jealous that they couldn't do it." Smirking he added, "Not to mention they were angry that the few Parselmouths that were here were stealing their women. In reality the women just like their tongues better than their husbands'." He finished and went back to his meal, oblivious to the shocked looks he was getting and the blushes from nearly every professor and older student in the room.

Lily Potter spoke up, still blushing madly, "A- Are you saying that you say your spells in different languages?"

"Yeah, if it's easier," Harry replied. "Though, when we do it in class, I say the spells the way they are being taught so I'm following the rules. Also, while I remember, Professor Babbling, could I talk to you later about where I could get some books on Aztec Runes?"

The Ancient Runes professor was shocked, this was a first year asking for books on Runes that weren't taught until NEWT year, and even then, they weren't widely known. "That is fine, Mr Daniels, but you may find them a bit difficult to understand without proper training in Ancient Runes."

"That's fine; I just want to read about them, I've heard them mentioned in some Native American books about Runes and also in some old Chinese Runes from old tribes. I just haven't been able to find them, I checked Flourish and Blotts, but they didn't even know where to look. I'll have to have Christina send me some from Chicago. I haven't been to Argentina in a few years; that is why I don't have any. My old contact there, Manuel, is on a world tour right now so he can't send me any. Would you like me to ask her to some new editions for you? I can't imagine that there are many people in Britain that are familiar with those Runes. Or any others from different parts of the world," Harry offered.

Professor Babbling gaped, "Uh, sure if you wouldn't mind and she had the time."

"Don't worry; she knows that I love Runes so it won't bother her." Harry said easily. "Also need to get some more Arithmancy books from her. Hmm, not much here…" He started to talk to himself about not having reading materials that were interesting to him and how he would have to have his friend, Miku, send him some things. He ignored the gawking looks others were sending his way about what he was talking about. Hermione just smirked at his obliviousness.

"But Harry, what about the Library?" she said. "Surely there are books in there that would hold your interest?"

"Nah, already looked, the more interesting books are in the Restricted Section, and even then I could get most, if not all, of those in bookstores in most other countries. Besides, the books on Ancient Runes here are only on the more common Runes, I already know those. What I want is something on more obscure runes and the Arithmancy books aren't much better. I have enough trouble getting through that. I want something I haven't already read or have a general idea about, otherwise it's just boring. People are right when they say that Hogwarts has one of the best libraries, but that just means that most of the books are in one place instead of spread out and hard to track down. In reality there are only a few books that can only be found at Hogwarts."

Hermione smirked at the outrageous looks he was getting from the professors and other students.

Harry smiled, "Besides, I was working on a few spells before I came here. Not extremely hard spells, just a few easy ones. Just to keep pace with my friends."

Hermione had a glint of interest in her eye. "Really? Like what?"

"Well, some of my friends are Trekkers and some are Star Wars fans, we were looking to create spells that mimic things like those. Most for Star Wars, but I know someone who charmed a squirt gun to shoot beams of light to stun others like the Trekkers and another who charmed a tube of metal to have light shoot out like a lightsaber. There was one guy, Naoko, he created a spell to look like force lightning but it was really just a tickling charm," Harry smirked.

"That actually sounds like fun," Hermione laughed.

"I thought so. Though before I left, I was helping them fix the tube of light and make is to that it reflected the stunning spell from the gun back at the person shooting them."

From there they started talking about different things, completely ignoring others around them. Lily Potter had to interrupt again.

"Are you telling me that you know the Dark Arts?" she asked.

Harry scowled at the interruption, "Yes, I read about some of that magic, mainly the history of where and when those Dark spells was created. In most other countries, not in Europe. It is outlawed to perform Dark magic, but not to read about it. It encourages people to not delve into that type of magic if they know what it does. Here, they ban even reading about them and that is like telling a child not to steal a cookie off the table right in front of them: completely idiotic. Also, in almost every other country in the world, anyone wanting to get their Defence Mastery must show that they know about the Dark Arts so that they understand them and understand how to defend against them. Any defence masters that come out of Britain barely pass the ICW standards in that regard."

He turned back to Hermione and picked up their conversation about spell crafting while the Hogwarts' staff looked dumbfounded.

A couple of days later, the population of Hogwarts was again reminded of the events of the Halloween feast when, during dinner, James Potter and Frank Longbottom walked into the Great Hall. Both clutched a scroll of parchment in their hands.

They walked up to Harry and James said, "What is this rubbish? Why are you saying that the Potter family and Longbottom family owe you 750 Galleons?"

Harry finished eating his food before replying with, "Well, on Halloween, your sons over there, along with their buddy, decided they would insult Hermione. By doing this, they made her feel as if she wasn't welcome at the Halloween feast, during which a mountain troll got in. Because they made her feel as if she wasn't welcome, she went to the girls' lavatory to avoid everyone, which is where the troll found her. Because of their actions, accidental or not, she was placed in a life threatening situation."

"But what does this have to do with us owing you money?" Frank asked.

Harry smirked, "As per ancient British pureblood custom, if one member of an Ancient and Noble family attacks another member of an Ancient and Noble family, either physically, verbally or places them in danger due to their actions, the offending family must pay the other a minimum of 250 Galleons for attack on their family and 500 Galleons if their actions place a member of the family in a life threatening situation. As of September 4th, Ms Granger is a protectorate of the Ancient and Noble House of Daniels. So, that is 250 for verbally attacking a protectorate and 500 for placing her in a life threatening situation. Just be glad that I didn't tack on another 500 for Mr Potter's attack on myself when I tried to defend Hermione. I may think the laws are idiotic but that doesn't mean that I won't use them."

At this point Chris stood up, "You attacked us, remember?"

"No," Harry smirked. "I merely defended myself when you tried to shove me to the ground, quite well I might add."

Dumbledore stood up. "Mr Daniels, I insist we talk about this in private."

Harry shrugged. "Fine, we can go up to your office."

Upon reaching the office, Dumbledore turned and said, "Now, Harry, you must learn to forgive Misters Potter, Longbottom and Weasley, everyone makes mistakes."

Harry said, "As this pertains to Head of House business, I must insist you refer to me as Lord Daniels. And I can't do that. I have already done this before to the Malfoy family. It would look as if I was playing favorites with the Potters and Longbottoms, which I won't do because I don't even particularly care for them."

"What did we ever do to you? We were always kind to you," Frank objected.

Harry snorted. "Says the man who didn't even realize that my birthday was the same day as Mr Potter's and told me to leave your son and Mr Potter alone and stop pestering them. Anyway, that isn't why I am doing this; I am doing this to simply teach your children a lesson, one you seem to not be capable of teaching them. Actions have consequences, a lesson that obviously is not taught to many here, considering that almost every conversation I've had with you, Headmaster, has been about giving out second chances like they were free candy in a candy store. Through which people believe they can get away with anything. Why be careful when you can fix everything with a spell any first year knows?" he asked sarcastically.

"What none of you seem to understand is that, if I hadn't been there, Hermione would have died and while magic seems to be an easy fix for everything, magic cannot fix death. That is the problem with Magical Britain; you take it for granted when you should respect it. What would you have done, Lord Potter, if someone insulted Mrs Potter when you were first years and by causing her to cry, it put her in a life and death situation? From what I remember, Hermione and Lily were somewhat alike, at least in intelligence."

While the others gaped, McGonagall said, "Aside from there, Mr Daniels, what are you doing about Mr Weasley? I'm not sure you are aware of this, but the Weasley's, while a fine family, are not as financially well-set as the Potters or Longbottoms."

Harry waved her away. "Don't worry, I know this and am giving them a break. I left Mr Weasley's punishment up to his father. He always treated me fair when I was younger so I know that the punishment he comes up with will fit the crime. Not to mention if I'm not satisfied with it, then I can talk to his older brothers. They and I have an accord, they don't prank me, I don't prank them, but if I ask them to and share some of my secrets, they will prank someone for me. The so called 'Marauders' have nothing on creative Japanese teenagers with a bit of time on their hands," he finished evilly.

Just by the look on his face, McGonagall knew he was telling the truth and she shivered in fear, as did the other professors.

"Then why don't you give that deal to us?" James asked, ignoring the last bit. He didn't believe anyone could best the Marauders.

Harry tilted his head for a moment and said, "Because I know for a fact that you would never dream of punishing your Golden Boy. He would just get a stern talking to, a slap on the wrist and them you would let him go. He would go on thinking that he could get away with anything, same as the Slytherins. The only reason I got Malfoy to stop is by fining his family over 1,500 Galleons for his insults. As rich as that family is, that much money, for simply not keeping your mouth shut, will hurt anyone. Now, as for the Longbottoms, if I could get an oath of honour from Augusta, then that would take care of your family, again, she was fair to me when I was a Potter, I know that she would make sure Mr Longbottom would learn his lesson. And if I found out the punishment was not fitting to the crime, I could ask for double the initial amount. Besides, Longbottom didn't really do anything to cause her to go to the bathroom; he just stood there and laughed as they insulted Hermione, so you only owe me 250 Galleons."

While he was talking, Harry felt a slight probe on his mind and he knew it was the old man. He clamped down on it and slowly started shredding it to ribbons. To the wincing form of the Headmaster he snarled, "Old man, I thought you would have learned your lesson by now. DO. NOT. GO. INTO. MY. MIND."

James leaped up, "What are you doing to the Headmaster! I order you to stop!"

Harry let go of the probe and watched the old man slump down. James said, "I could arrest you for attacking someone like that."

"How did you ever become an Auror?" Harry snorted. "Can you not even tell that was Legilimency and that I am completely within my rights to defend my mind against intrusion?"

James sneered, "There is no way someone as young as you could keep out someone as powerful as Dumbledore. That had to be something else."

Harry rolled his eyes, smiling humourlessly. "Well, if you don't believe me, would you care to look? Also, I will ignore the blatant disregard for the law from a Head Auror, since you obviously know he was attempting illegal magic on me."

Dumbledore knew Harry could crush James' mind in an instant and knew news of James' ignoring illegal magic would be a blow to his career. "No, that will be enough. I apologize, Harry, for trying to look into your mind, I was merely trying to help you understand and help you to forgive your brother and your family and resolve this matter quickly."

"Yes, well, this matter will be resolved when they pay my family what it is owed. As for forgiving the Potters, I already forgave them but I will never forget what they did and who they are, behind what the public thinks. Also, do not try and get into my head to control my actions again. I was trained very well and you would not be able to get in without significant injury and possible loss of your sanity. I practice 'Battle-Based Occlumency', not the kid stuff. Now, if we're done here, Hermione and I have some Transfiguration homework to do," Harry finished coolly.

With that the two Ravenclaws got up and walked out, ignoring the looks they were getting. When they were gone, James turned to Dumbledore and said, "Albus, we have to get him back into our family, he has no right to do this. And what was that rubbish of 'Battle-Based Occlumency'?"

"We are his family, he should want to be with us," Lily concurred.

Flitwick had had enough. "It appears that he does want to be with his family. The one that took care of him and helped make him the young man he is. From what I have seen, you do not fall into that category. I don't know what he will do, but know this: I will help him in any way I can. And for your information, the type of Occlumency he spoke of is that of building a mindscape and putting his mind in it and then defences around it. It is much more secure than normal Occlumency but several orders of magnitude harder to do so. It is also much more dangerous for a Legilimens to try and get information from, because the defences can do anything to an intruder that the Occlumens can think of. It was developed by the American Mages some years ago. Now, I take my leave. Good day!"

With that, the diminutive professor stalked out of the office, leaving the two adult Potters and Dumbledore gaping and the three young Gryffindors thinking that they never wanted to get on the Charms Master's bad side. Snape sneered at everyone and McGonagall looked angry beyond belief. She glared at the Potters and the Headmaster and followed her colleague. Dumbledore sighed, _Why is it that whenever I try and get Mr Potter to make up with his family, he gets angry and ends up leaving and somehow gets some of my staff to go with him? Is it so bad that I am trying to get him back with his family? It is for the greater good that he gives his magic to his brother and any money he has should be given to help stop Voldemort when he returns. And where on earth did he learn "Battle-Based Occlumency"?_

He dismissed everyone and Frank Longbottom went off to contact his mother about getting Lord Daniels to drop the complaint in favour of something... less expensive. Little did he know Harry had already mailed off a letter explaining the situation and the moment he started to spin a tale favouring his son she would tear into him.

Harry and Hermione were walking towards their class when Hermione finally said, "Harry, you didn't have to do that. And since when am I a- what did you call me?"

"Protectorate," Harry supplied. "And you have been one since September 4th. I owled your folks and told them some of the bigotry and things that you might be forced to deal with. This way, you have my family protecting you. While we are not as big or as well-known as the Potters, Longbottoms or others, they still respect the pureblood laws. Besides, I am Head of more than just the Daniels family. Added together, I am the Head of seven families."

"What families?" Hermione asked, amazed.

Harry pulled her into an unused classroom, "If I tell you, you can't tell anyone. It would cause me no end of trouble."

Hermione said with conviction, "I promise, Harry. I won't tell anyone that you don't give me permission to tell."

"When I was five and ran away," Harry began, "I went to Gringotts to see if I could get some money out of my trust vault before my parents revoked it. When I got there, I earned the respect of some goblins. By doing this, which was just showing them respect really, I was allowed to see the manager, Ragnok. I took what is called an inheritance test. It told me what families, also known as Houses, I was related to by blood and by magic. I found out that I am the Head of the Emrys House by magic, the Gryffindor House, by blood and magic, the Slytherin House by magic and magical conquest, the Peverell House by blood, the Dracumis House by my mother's side. It is patriarchal so she couldn't be the Head. When I was disowned I became eligible to be the Head. Finally, there was the Daniels family. They split from the Potter family years ago; they remained fairly close but realized that they had too much money and power if one person became the Head of both Houses. So, they fixed it by stipulating that Lord Potter could not be Lord Daniels."

Hermione was amazed; she realized that Harry was probably one of the most politically powerful people in Britain. "I've heard that name before, Emrys. What did the Dracumis family do?"

Harry smiled, "You have heard of them, almost everyone who has taken a class on magical creatures has. Artamius Dracumis was the person to discover the Opal Eye dragon. His line went dormant until my mother was born. As for Emrys, well that was Merlin's family name."

Hermione was gaping, then had a thought, "Hang on, you said you were the Head of seven Houses, but only named six. What is the last?"

"The last is not a family, but a society, or 'Order' of people. That is where I went and where I learned almost everything I know. And I'm not the Head of it either, but one of my ancestors was and put a spell on himself and every person born from him, their name appears on that list if their magic and overall world view agrees with what they teach."

"What is it called?" Hermione asked.

Harry sighed. "I can't tell you. It is secret and works in the shadows for the betterment of the different magical species. We learn to walk in shadows and converse with other magical creatures and learn how to fight them, if it is called for. We learn a special branch of magic that is only known by us. Other magical governments are prevented from learning our secrets because we claim our society as a family and our magic, family magic, which is safe from theft and cannot be taken by the government."

Hermione was intrigued. "But how can you be sure that someone won't join, and then leave with the secrets?"

"There are enchantments on everything we learn," Harry smiled. "The minute you break the oath you take when you join, the knowledge is erased from your mind. The magic inherent in the oath you take will not allow you to lie to get in. It helps that most governments don't know about us, that is why it a 'Secret' Order."

Hermione thought for a while. "What is to stop me from telling others about this conversation and others from overhearing it?"

"Well, for one thing," Harry smiled, "We are trained to unconsciously put up secrecy wards of our own magic, unbreakable by any who don't know about that magic, whenever we talk about it, the magic also cancels all listening and monitoring spells placed on someone. Also, the name, or conversation about it is under a modified charm to hide its existence. You will forget this conversation happened, at least this part, until you either join or we talk about it again."

Hermione staggered. "That is very advanced magic! How do I know that you and this 'Order' are not evil?"

Harry shrugged, "We aren't, we may be viewed as such by others, mostly the British and some parts of Europe, but that is because we use spells that they do not know or understand, as such the Ministry of Magic classifies it as evil, or dark magic. Our sole purpose is to protect and help bring about and keep the peace between the magical races. Just because we use spells that some don't like doesn't mean we are evil. There is not really such a thing as 'Dark Magic'. Magic is solely about intent. The blood vanishing spell, which was created by hunters for hunters so that they wouldn't have to take the time to drain the blood out of the animals they killed. The Unforgivables were originally based on healing spells. One to kill without pain, though again this was mainly used by hunters, one to shock someone back to consciousness, before Rennervate was created, and one to help others do what they needed to do and not feel discomfort, like dentistry or other painful procedures, along with helping someone in a dangerous situation, who is frozen in fear, get to safety. The curses that are strictly meant to harm, like the blood boiling curse and other similar spells, those were created with the INTENT to harm. Though the blood boiling curse was actually developed to fight against vampires. Those are okay to consider evil, but truly, magic is strictly magic, nothing more than an extension of our will on the world around us. Even Fiendfyre is based on a spell to help with forest fires, though it is a bastardized form of the original."

Hermione nodded, she could see his point and agreed with him. Deciding that she wanted to help, she asked, somewhat shyly, "Is there a way I could join? I know that I couldn't do much now, but -"

Harry cut her off, "That isn't true. There is a lot you could do. If the leader of the Order allows it, I can teach you everything I know, the same way as I did on the train. If that happens, there is plenty we could do. The older generation is too set in their ways. We might be able to help shift their views, but it is unlikely, what the elders would like me to try to do is to get the younger generation to see the other side of things, to view both sides of the 'coin' that is society. What most of magical Britain doesn't seem to understand is that Goblins and House Elves and the other magical creatures are much stronger in magic than witches and wizards, magical creatures are from magic and understand it in ways most witches and wizards don't or can. Not to mention, the purebloods are slowly dying, due to inbreeding. First generation magicals out number purebloods more and more each year, yet purebloods continue to treat them as second class citizens. One of these days, it will come back to bite them in the arse. I am one of the few wizards that can understand magic at a basic level, you are too. Though we come at it differently; you are more studious in your approach, while I just understand my magic easier and will it to do what I want. We work in reverse. You study how to do something, then do it, while I do something, then study how I did it."

Hermione smiled, "So will you talk to whoever is in charge? I have seen and heard a little about how magical creatures are treated and I want to do something about it, but I know that I most likely won't be able to, since I'm a first generation."

"I would like that," Harry smiled. "It would give me someone that I can trust, not with just my personal life, but with my life outside Britain. Though, once you finish school, you will most likely be required to go to the other bases in other countries to learn other magical cultures, possibly even during summer. Part of why they had me do that was to get me to think differently. That is why I seem more mature than most. But for now, my contacts know about you from me and agree that they can help you too."

Hermione beamed, "How can you contact whoever you need to? I imagine they don't live in Britain."

"During my travels I met a friend," Harry explained, "and we bonded. It's different to Hedwig, Gwen still helps the Order, but she is bonded to me."

When he finished, a ball of bright white fire erupted in front of them. A black bird appeared, its wings tinged with silver that seemed to dance like flames.

Hermione was afraid at first but realized what the bird was, "You bonded with a phoenix?"

Harry smiled and patted the creature, "A shadow phoenix to be exact. Rarer than most phoenixes. For every six normal phoenixes you see or hear about, you will only see one shadow phoenix. A close second to the Royal Phoenixes in the hierarchy, I've only seen one once before, he was bonded to a monk in the Lost Temple in India. Though he had an odd sense of humour... anyway, Gwen was with the Order for a long time, but after about two years with them, she decided to bond with me. She still does work for the Order, but she comes to me whenever I need her. She is also the only shadow phoenix in the Order."

The bird trilled and Harry smiled, "She said because you and I are close, she extents the bond to you as well. She has seen your heart and finds it pure. Now with that out of the way, I can train you without talking to Shadow. Gwen and the other phoenixes are usually how they allow people to join."

Hermione smiled and stroked the magical bird, "Who is Shadow?"

"He is one of the Heads of the Order of Shadow Walkers. All the Heads are called 'Shadow'. It was confusing at first, but most just say 'Shadow" and then whatever country they are Head of. The Shadow that accepted me is from Japan."

"Why 'Shadow Walkers'?"

"That was what I asked too, it's because we work in the shadows, walk in the shadows and our magic is called, 'Shadow Magic'. It is because without Light, there is no Dark, and without Dark, there is no Light; Shadow is the line between the two and the line that we walk. Too much Shadow and there is darkness and no light, we walk a line that many do not realize is even there. Also, if you ever want to leave, you can, but the knowledge of the Order will be erased from your mind and our existence will be erased from your life. The exception is me. Because I introduced you and we were friends before you entered, our friendship will remain, but anything regarding the Order will be gone and I will not be able to talk to you about it. You will only be left knowing that you were once a part of something, you wanted out and so you are out. We will never force you to do anything you do not want to do. Even now, I don't technically have a mission while here. Even Shadow realizes that I am only technically eleven years old and so they told me to have fun and enjoy my childhood."

"I understand. When will you teach me? And what do you mean you're 'technically' eleven years old?"

Harry laughed at her enthusiasm. "Tomorrow, it's late already and tomorrow is Saturday. After I give you the knowledge, I will have to test you on it, and then give you reading to give you a better understand about your skills. It will be like the knowledge I gave you on the train. Not to mention the headache will kill until you sort through the information. Also, I should let you know, while Gwen is a phoenix that helps the Order, it isn't uncommon for the other, more powerful Order members to bond with another phoenix. They come to those that truly are pure of heart and want the best for others. I wouldn't be surprised if one came to you sooner, rather than later. Gwen helps with those that haven't bonded with a phoenix yet. Also, when someone bonds with one, they usually keep it secret so as not to draw attention to them, again, we work in the shadows and without looking for rewards."

Hermione nodded and asked one more question, "Why is it that the Headmaster has a phoenix if he did those things? They don't exactly seem in the Light."

Harry sighed, "What you have to understand is that Phoenixes truly care about those they bond with. At one time, Dumbledore was truly in the Light. That is when Fawkes, his phoenix, bonded with him. As the years passed, Dumbledore had more put on him and he started to believe in his own legend. Now, he believes that only he can understand what must be done. He doesn't listen to anyone but himself. He only sees the whole, not the individuals. To him, 'The Greater Good' is what the whole of magical Britain needs and only he knows how to bring it about. The reason Fawkes is still with him is to try and get him to see the error of his ways. He is trying to be too 'Light' and too much of anything is bad. Too much Light ends up being the same as Darkness, like now, Dumbledore, while trying to be Light, is taking away the choices of others, which is what evil magicals do. There has to be balance and he doesn't understand that. During that last war, he refused to kill or allow those in his 'Order of the Phoenix' to kill. This led to many arrests, but within days of being in prison, Voldemort broke his Death Eaters out and the Aurors and Order of the Phoenix were fighting them again. It was a never-ending cycle and he allowed it to continue. He tries to see the good in others and, while that is a good thing, he never understood that some people will not change. He advocated for second chances; again, that is a good thing, but when those second chances became third and fourth chances and more, it was a bad thing. It is like what I was saying up in his office about the Potters; when someone is given that many chances, they do not learn about consequences and do not change."

Hermione nodded. She understood that. Her grandfather was a soldier in WWII and her dad was in the military, a medic, before going to school for dentistry, which the military paid for. Her mum almost joined but got a scholarship so it wasn't necessary.

After their conversation, Harry sent a note to Shadow with Gwen, informing him that he had inducted Hermione and would train her the following day and also about her mental shields and that their secrets were safe. Then they went back to the Ravenclaw common room. They talked a bit more but nothing about the Shadow Walkers, or "Walkers" as they had started calling them. They just talked about different branches of magic. Everyone in the common room left them alone, as was the habit when anyone in Ravenclaw looked to be in an intense conversation.

Hermione was excited; tomorrow she would learn new magic and be able to help those that couldn't help themselves. Harry smiled, finally he could tell Hermione anything and everything he wanted. He missed his other friends, but even then, they were years older than him so they couldn't relate as much, even if Harry was more mature than most eleven year olds.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.**

Chapter 5

The following morning Hermione got up earlier than as was her usual. She was excited that Harry would be teaching her different magic and couldn't wait. It was a Saturday so they would have all day. At about 7:30, Harry came down the stairs looking like he just got out of a shower and Hermione nearly tackled him to the floor.

He laughed and said, "Good morning Hermione, seems you're excited about something."

Hermione blushed slightly and smiled, "Yes, now when are you going to teach me? And where are we going to do it"

Harry chuckled as they exited the common room. They headed down to breakfast talking about what Harry would teach her. Harry explained a bit about the enchantments around topics dealing with the "Shadow Walkers".

He explained, "What you have to understand is that anything and everything that we consciously classify as 'Shadow Business' means that the magic surrounding the Order will ensure that it is kept secret. Anyone that hears about it, will forget it the moment they walk away or the conversation stops. The magic will trick their mind into thinking it is about the most boring and uninteresting thing they can think of. If someone hears about it and try to write it down, the magic surrounding the Order will erase all traces of it. Even pensieve memories will be altered, but not in a noticeable way. It is some of the oldest magic ever around, older than even Hogwarts, and it has built on itself over the ages and changed with the cultures that the Order comes in contact with."

He thought for a moment and continued, "Also, anything that you learn from me will need to be worked on. You will have only the knowledge of it. For instance, I will be giving you knowledge of every mundane fighting style there is, but focusing on the martial arts because that is what I am good at. The other styles are geared more towards overall strength. Now, you will know how to do all of the things in regards to that, but that doesn't mean that your body will be able to. You will need to work at it, for example; you will know how to do a 'Jumping Spin-Kick' but you will not be able to actually do it because your body wont be conditioned to do it. The same goes for your magic."

As he finished, they entered the Great Hall and went to eat. It had only been a day since the school found out that Harry was 'billing' the Potters and Longbottoms for insulting Hermione, so when they entered almost every head swiveled to look at them. For Hermione, it was a little disconcerting, being the center of attention, but Harry seemed indifferent. Harry looked over at a few other students crowding around the _Daily Prophet_ and he knew what the staring was about.

The front page Story was in big bold letters,

_**- Lost Potter Billing Potter and Longbottom Families for Insults -**_

_**- Angry Child Crying Out For Attention -**_

Harry snorted at the title and continued eating his eggs. Hedwig came flying in just as Harry got out a piece of parchment.

He muttered just loud enough for those around him to hear, "Bloody ancient these people are. Who still uses parchment?"

Hermione and few other muggleborns snorted into their breakfast. Harry didn't seem to notice and continued muttering insults to the British Magical Society being so far behind in the times, while he wrote a letter to the _Prophet_. Eventually Hermione was reduced to leaning into Harry and smothering her giggles into his shoulder while a few other muggleborns nearly fell out of their seats because they were laughing so much. Hedwig just hooted her agreement and stole the bacon off her human's plate.

When Harry was done he looked up and realized that he had no more bacon and gave his owl a playful scowl and said, "Gee thanks Hed, I look away for a moment and you steal my bacon." Hedwig just stood there, looking as innocent as an owl with bits of bacon around her beak could. Harry smirked, "No worries Hed, but I want to make a point to the idiots not to mess with me so I have to go with a different delivery system."

Hermione knew what he was talking about but no one else did.

Harry just called out "Gwen!"

Immediately a burst of white flames erupted on his shoulder and those around him jumped back. The flames disappeared to reveal the jet black Shadow Phoenix.

Harry reached up and she nuzzled his hand, "Hey Gwen. Hope you don't mind, but I want to make a statement. If you don't have other things to be doing, would you mind taking this to the Offices of the _Daily Prophet_? Along with these memories?"

The phoenix trilled and flapped down to the table. Both she and Hedwig looked at each other and then Hedwig nodded, as if she approved. Harry laughed and Hermione cooed at Gwen. The phoenix soaked up the attention for a few moments, then picked up the letter from Harry, along with the memories provided, then left in a ball of white flames.

The Great Hall was silent as Harry and Hermione continued eating, not paying attention. Hermione realized that Harry was rubbing off on her because she was actually having fun surprising people.

Eventually Dumbledore came back to himself and said, "Uh. Mr. Pot- Daniels? Could you explain what just happened?"

Harry winked at Hermione, "I'll have him trained up yet." She snorted as many others scowled at him, he continued, "Well sir, I saw the article that the _Prophet_ was trying to lie about what happened, so I sent them a letter with memories as evidence to correct their mistake. I also may have informed them that my family, meaning me, owns a good portion of their stock. I informed them that if they did not print the truth without credible evidence that I will be forced to dump my stock as soon as possible so I am not affiliated with liars who are out for money and not those wanting the truth."

The staff was dumbfounded. This eleven year old basically just threatened one of the biggest news providers in Magical Britain with blackmail.

It was Chris Potter that stood up and said, "So what? You didn't like what they wrote about you so you threatened them to write what you want them to?"

Harry snorted, "No, Mr. Potter. Though that is something that I would expect other families to do. No, I merely told them that they need to print the truth with sufficient evidence to corroborate their story. If they do not, them I will not be associated with them and will sell my stock as fast as I can and for whatever I can get for the shares. Besides, after I'm done with Hogwarts, I'm leaving Britain again. Even during the summer I wont be here, except the last two weeks of August. Just to catch up on what the news is and to get my things. Unless I am invited to a friend's house, then I might stay a bit more. So it doesn't really matter what the people of magical Britain think of me, I couldn't care less."

Flitwick cleared his throat, "Just how much do you own of the _Prophet_?"

Harry thought for a moment, "With my other families, roughly 63 percent."

The staff paled as they realized that Harry could bankrupt the _Daily Prophet_. Quite a few professors were wondering exactly how much money Harry had.

Daphne Greengrass smirked, "That's very Slytherin of you Harry."

Harry smirked back, "Well of course. I could have been in Slytherin. The sorting hat said I had almost the perfect blend of Slytherin cunning, Hufflepuff loyalty, Gryffindor bravery and Ravenclaw intellect. No offense to you, Tracy or Blaise, but I don't find sharing a dorm with Draco and his buddies to be favorable. Hufflepuff was out because I would have shown loyalty to my friends above my house. Gryffindor has the same problem as Slytherin in that, if Ronald Weasley and Chris Potter are the same as they were 6 years ago, sleeping in the same dorm would have been impossible. So I chose Ravenclaw, not to mention, that is where Hermione went. The hat agreed after I showed it that I have cunning and ambition tempered by intelligence to use the cunning and reach my ambitions, loyalty and fairness to work hard to use the intelligence and the bravery to see it through to the end."

Everyone in the Great Hall was left gaping, though Malfoy, Chris and Ron were both turning different shades of red and Hermione was beaming at him.

Flitwick, again, posed the question, "Uh, Mr. Daniels, if you don't mind me asking, how much money do you actually have?"

Harry thought for a moment, "Do you mean the Daniels family only, or the other families that I am head of?"

Dumbledore inhaled, _How many families is he head of?_

Flitwick smirked, "Well, all of them?"

Harry turned his head for a moment, "Well, I don't exactly know. I know that the Daniels Family has the lowest amount. All of my other accounts, are on 'High Risk, High Gain' investments, and I have the Goblins controlling most of my accounts. It helps that I upped their payment to 4% of whatever I make. Before it was just 2%, I tried to make it more but that was the most they would take, they said they did not want to feel like they were taking advantage of a child. 'No honor in that', is what they said. Anyway, the other accounts that I have are more than what I will ever need. Especially when I go out of country and exchange Galleons for foreign currency. The US dollar is worth a lot more than the British Pound right now."

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Could you tell us who the other families are?"

Harry smirked, "Nah, I think I'll keep that to myself, it's to much fun keeping you guessing." again Hermione snorted and had to hide her laughs in Harry's shoulder.

Dumbledore's eye twitched but he pushed on, "Fine, could you tell me about that bird that came to you?"

Harry smiled, "That was Gwen. I met her a while back. She helps out my friends and I when we need her."

Dumbledore nodded, "But what was she?"

Harry smirked, "A Shadow Phoenix."

Dumbledore gaped, and whispered, "But I thought they were myths."

Harry laughed, "Nope, just really rare. The only thing rarer is Royal Phoenix. I've only seen one once before. He was beautiful, his feathers were every color imaginable, but had an odd sense of humor. Always woke me up by dropping a bucket of ice cold water with bits of regurgitated fruit in it."

He enjoyed the dumbfounded looks on the Headmaster's, Snape's and Lily Potter's faces. He finished up eating, then had an idea as he walked out of the still silent hall.

"Ha!" he shouted, startling Hermione and those he was walking past.

She huffed. "What now?"

Harry smiled, "I figured out how to get around the stupid parchments and quills rule."

Hermione snorted, "How?"

Harry smirked as they continued walking to the doors, "I'll just use a pen and normal paper, like normal people, then use magic to transfigure the paper into parchment and change the writing to show quill strokes, add in drops of ink and voilà, archaic homework."

As they neared the corner, Hermione asked, "But how? You don't know the spells for that."

Those still in the Great Hall saw Harry shrug and barely heard him say, "Eh. I'll figure it out. I'm done with archaic ways of writing."

The hall was left silent.

Snape jumped up and said, "Headmaster, you must put a stop to this. He is walking around here like he owns the castle! And where did he get that overgrown turkey? I've never even heard of a 'Shadow Phoenix'."

Just as Dumbledore was about to respond, the "Overgrown Turkey" appeared in a flash of flames behind Snape. The Potions' Master turned to face it and the phoenix looked him dead in the eye. All of a sudden Gwen jerked forward and was surrounded in white flames. Snape stumbled back in fright and fell out of his chair. The phoenix trilled in amusement and flashed out again and the rest of the students in the hall burst out laughing.

One of the Weasley twins shouted, "I don't think she like being insulted Professor. I think you just got pranked by a phoenix."

This caused more laughter and Snape roared in frustration and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Flitwick thought to himself, _Harry hasn't given anything out that he didn't want to it seems. I wonder what other secrets he has, like what other families he is head of. He may be one of my Ravens but he is more Slytherin than any give him credit for. He didn't even say how much money he has._

X0X0X0X0

Harry and Hermione turned the corner and burst out laughing, they knew that everyone in the Great Hall could hear their conversation. They headed for an abandoned classroom in an abandoned part of the castle. Once they found one, Harry sealed it with every secrecy and privacy spell he knew. Hermione recognized some of them from either reading or the knowledge that Harry gave her.

Harry said, "Okay, Hermione. What I'm going to do is give you the rest of the knowledge about the core classes. Once you get that sorted in your head, we will go through the languages, this will hurt a bit because it is a lot of information. After, I will give you the other areas of magic, like Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Spell Creation, Wandless Magic, Silent casting, Warding, Curse Breaking, Illusions and the Animagus Transformation. This last one will take a bit longer just because everyone has a different animal. After this, you will know how to do the transformation, but will have to work for a bit to get the initial transformation the first time. You have to train your body to change shape on command. After the first transformation, it will become easier because you know what to do and you can gain speed. Then, comes the Shadow Magic and all it entails. This will include, Shadow Walking, Shadow Wards, Shadow Spells and your Shadow Animagus form."

Hermione replied, "But I've read that you can only have one form."

Harry smirked, "That is true for most people. Though I know a few people that have multiple forms, it kind of depends on how powerful you are, though what I am talking about is really just human transfiguration. People who have multiple forms can transform into them because they studied the animal enough to know it, they will not get the benefits of the animal in human form, only what they get from their true form. But those that practice Shadow Magic, they gain another form. It is a magical form and it is always the same. We call it a 'Shadow Cat'. It looks like a Black Panther, but you can shadow walk and use shadow magic and any wandless magic while in that form. You can also shrink down to the size of a normal house cat or become the size of a lion. Everyone in the Order has this form, on top of their other form, but no one has been able to figure out why you gain another animal form. After that, we will go into the physical fighting styles and the dueling styles."

Hermione gulped, she hadn't realized that there was that much.

Harry saw her and chuckled, "Don't worry, by the time we are done today, you will know everything that I know. It may be a bit painful with headaches, but since you know Occlumency, it will be a lot better than it was for me. After that, we can spend tomorrow talking about the different things you will know and start conditioning your body to be able to do the things that you will know how."

Hermione nodded. They cleared away the desks and sat in the middle of the classroom. Both looked like they were getting ready to meditate. Harry brought his wand to his temple and concentrated on what he wanted to give. He then pulled his wand away and, with it, came a silvery strand of knowledge. He brought his wand to Hermione's temple and the strand was sucked into her head. Harry spent the next few minutes concentrating on what he wanted to give her next. After a few moments, Hermione said, "Ready". Harry again brought his wand to his head and pulled the information, on all the languages he spoke, out of his head and brought it to Hermione's. This time she stiffened slightly, then relaxed and a few minutes later she was ready again.

They didn't move from their spots for over two hours. During that time, Harry gave her everything that he said he would. By the time they were finished, she could do things that many NEWT students couldn't. She could conjure anything she wanted, and use Shadow Magic to do anything she wanted. She understood Harry's fascination with Ancient Runes and enjoyed them as well, but liked Arithmancy more. She found her animagus form was that of a Raven with golden eyes. She thought is was fitting that she was a raven since she is a Ravenclaw. Harry showed her his, a jet black Peregrine Falcon with green eyes. Harry explained that he would need to get her registered with the ICW, but under a false name. When she asked about his false name he explained about "Alex Shadow" and how, to everyone else that is who he is when dealing with Shadow business. Only a few people truly know that Harry Jackson Daniels and Alex Shadow are the same person, he then explained that the same would go for her second identity. He also explained that her new identity would be completely legal and she would, in a way, become two people.

After a few moments, she blushed and said, "Well, I like the Shadow part, but I'll go with Grey so my parents don't have a fit and my grandma's name was Miranda, could my name be Miranda Grey?"

Harry chuckled, "That is fine with me. I'll need to charm some bracelets or rings for your parents, to protect their minds because I'll have a 'Walker' go explain it to your parents." seeing the expression on her face, he said, "Don't worry, the 'Walker' will explain it to them as a sort of intern program. They will let your parents know that nothing is expected of you until an appropriate age, and even then, it is just a chance to give you more options in the magical world, while trying to change it for the better. Considering that in Britain, you wont have as many options as you would elsewhere in the world, even if you are brilliant. Elsewhere in the world, magicals live and even work in the mundane world. In the United States, magical schools combine magical education with mundane education, so when a person finishes their schooling, they can work in both worlds."

After that, Harry gave her the last knowledge dump, the one with the knowledge of martial arts and other fighting styles. Once she got the information sorted and understood it, Harry had her go through various exercises, to test her knowledge and see where she was at, physically. Surprisingly, she was fairly far along.

She explained, "In the mornings, before school, my mum would do Pilates and I joined her about a year ago. We don't do much, but what we do, helps keep us in shape. I know right now that my upper body strength has much to be desired, but with the Pilates and general exercise I got in school and walking around the castle, I could probably run about a mile, maybe a bit more."

Harry nodded, "That's about where I was about a month into my training. After about two months, you'll probably be at my level. I don't have much upper body strength, but I can hold my own. My strength lies in my reflexes and speed. I can run about 2 miles if I run straight out, if I jog then I can double that. It will help you, once you get to my level, to be able to power your body with magic like I did with the troll. You can't do that for long, but every so often it helps. Also, to get your magic up to par, I want you to merge with your core every other night. I would say every night, but if you did that, you would have a harder time hiding your aura and you would be bursting with magic. Also, we can either meet here, or I could charm your trunk to have extra compartments in it and one of them could be a training room."

Hermione thought about it, then said, "Could you do both? We could train here in the mornings and I could use my trunk at different times, when we can't meet?"

Harry smiled and agreed. After that, they continued to go over what she could do. After talking a bit more, Harry had Hermione explain to him about Shadow Magic.

She said, "Shadow Magic is different because of the way it works. Shadow spells are harder to block and are always stronger. Shadow wards are like Shadow Walking, in that they transfer the spells directed at a person with the wards, into the shadows, only to come out somewhere else, so in actuality, they don't block anything, they just redirect the spells. Shadow walking is where you basically step into the shadows, will yourself to be somewhere you want to be and then walk out of the shadows in that place. It also is a bit instinctive. If you want to go somewhere you've never been before, then you just focus on a person whom you know is where you want to go, and walk out of their shadow. In the same way, you can attach yourself to their shadow and spy on them and they would never know you were there. For example, if you want to visit my parents, or I wanted to visit them, we would just need to slip into the shadows and focus on them. When we stepped out again, we would be where ever they are. Also, because of the secrecy magic around the order, the shadow spells that we use will be remembered and be seen in a pensieve as normal spells that have the same effect."

Harry nodded, then questioned, "Now, what about the Unforgivables?"

Hermione smiled, "Those are different. Personal Wards don't block them, but Shadow Shields do redirect them, but you have to mentally tell them where to go, that is why wards to not block or redirect them, you need to be thinking of where to redirect them at the time they hit the shadow shield. Also, because of this, it takes more mental discipline then people would think. You need to simultaneously cast the spell and think of where you want the spell directed, one benefit of this shield is that you can cause a shadow to appear anywhere and 'spit' the spell back out. Why wasn't at least this spell shared with others during the war?"

Harry replied, "Well, this spell is actually relatively new. We plan on having it introduced it in a fairly soon."

Hermione smiled, "Do you know who made it? It must have taken them a long time to perfect it."

Harry actually blushed and mumbled something, Hermione said, "I didn't hear that Harry, could you repeat that."

Harry blushed a bit more, "I said, that I did it, but it was by accident."

Hermione gaped, "Explain."

Harry sighed, "Well, I was training with my friends and we were working on reflexes. We weren't paying attention to where we were at in the training room and we had drifted over to a different area, the one where we test our strength and power behind the spells. At that point, I was in the middle of the lane and one of the others had put a lot of power into a reducto. It was to close to dodge and if it had hit, I would have been seriously hurt. It was a moment after Miles cast the spell that he realized that I was in the way. I saw it coming and did the first thing that came to mind. I cast a shadow shield, but at the same time, I focused on shadow walking out of the way. The next thing I know, the spell hit my shield and then reappeared behind me. I guess no one had ever thought to try it and so after that, Shadow had me testing it. We got a few rats and the older members cast the three unforgivables at them and had me shield against them. All three were redirected. I worked with a few other spell creators and we tweaked the spell to look differently so it doesn't look like Shadow magic. We call it the 'Black Hole'. This way we can release it and no one will be the wiser. It was put to the ICW right before school started, it was just going to be tested. We should hear about it after the next meeting."

Hermione said, "When is that?"

Harry smiled, "Tomorrow. It should be in the papers on Monday."

Hermione smiled, then had a thought, "Hang on, you said you would explain to me how you are only 'Technically' 11 years old."

Harry smiled, "I was wondering when you would catch on. During my time abroad I made liberal use of time turners and time chambers. I had to learn a lot of what I gave you, the hard way. In order to do this, I was put in a time chamber. For every month I was in the chamber, a week passed on the outside. So, taking into account that I use the chamber and the turner, I would guess that my true age is somewhere around 14 to 15 years old."

Hermione asked, "But you still only look like an 11 year old, maybe a bit older but not much."

Harry nodded, "That is the special spells they put on me when I was in the chamber; they ensured that I didn't age while in the chamber. The chamber and spells used are heavily regulated so no one abuses them. The only reason that I used them is because the US Mages know about the Order and allow us to use it. The only time I used the turner was when I was doing special training in different parts of the world and the times conflicted with each other. For example, when a Walker in the US Mages, Special Forces trained me in special dueling tactics, she could only train me on her vacation, this conflicted with my Illusions training in Peru. I used a time turner to get training in both areas. In reality, I have only really used the turner a few times and I haven't gone back further than a week at a time. Now, since we are done earlier than I thought we would be, I want to give you a bit more knowledge from one of my families. It's from the Peverell family. They were experts on ancient magics and particularly invisibility magic. That is how Chris and his goons get away with so much, they have the original invisibility cloak from Ignotus Peverell. I charmed my contacts to see through it along with a few other things."

Hermione thought for a moments, "Wait, I know that name, wasn't he one of the Three Brothers or something? I don't really remember it to well, it seemed like a story for little kids, so I didn't read it, just heard about it in passing."

Harry smiled, "It is. Think of it as one of the little fairy tales your parents told you when you were little. Anyway, the brothers were real but they didn't meet death. It's in the Peverell Family Grimoire. The oldest found an ancient Elder tree that literally gave off magic, he figured that because of the size of the tree and the magic coming off of it, it was probably one of the oldest trees still living. Granted, this was about 1,600 years ago so the tree is probably dead by now, but anyway, he took a branch to make a wand, back then they were called 'Focuses', he took a small piece and then made a wand and for the core he put a Heart String of an ancient Black High Dragon in it, as well as a phoenix feather, after soaking them in the freely given blood of a Royal Phoenix. Because of this, he had a very powerful wand and it was slightly sentient, but in order to stop people from finding the tree, he put out the rumor that Death itself gave him the wand. Back then people were very superstitious about those things. The second brother and the supposed, 'Resurrection Stone' came about when he lost his wife. He sort of went insane. He found 7 stones from the very center of all seven major convergences of the Ley Lines around the world and transmuted them into one stone, then had a Royal Phoenix, the same that gave the blood to the first brother, take it with the bird into it's rebirth. The phoenix fire gave it strange properties. It uses a bit of Legilimency on whoever is holding it, but unlike normal Legilimency, this can't be blocked. Once activated it gives off a feeling of contentment and euphoria. In his mind, the second brother saw that it brought back the feelings that he had when his wife was still around. He sort of became addicted to it, but he found that as the time went on, the feeling started to wane, he couldn't get that fix anymore and so took his life. After he died, the last brother decided to not let it be known what his brother created. He heard what his eldest brother had said about his wand and so stuck with that idea and spread the story of the stone around."

Hermione was enraptured by the tale, she asked, "And what about the third brother?"

Harry thought for a few minutes, "Well, he saw how people reacted to his two brothers and their items. He figured that they would come to him sooner or later so he decided to hide, to protect his family. He took a cloak his brother found on his journey for the stones and charmed it with shadow magic to preserve it. Then hunted down a Demiguise, killed it, then soaked the cloak in the blood of the creature. He then used a spell that he created to transfer the magical abilities of something and duplicated the invisibility ability of the Demiguise into the cloak. The shadow magic and the blood enhanced the invisibility aspect of it. Finally he had the Royal phoenix, the same as his brothers used, to take the cloak with it in it's rebirthing cycle, thus making the properties, from the blood, last forever and strengthened them so that nothing could see through it. The small design that most associate with the 'Deathly Hallows' was just a small thing that the brothers made up when they were children."

Hermione was amazed, "How did they know to do all of that"

Harry shrugged, "The Grimoire just explained that they were theorists. They studied magic and were really the first to do so, but didn't share the secrets they found. I can't make any of those things because the Grimoire doesn't give the specific spells the brothers used on their items, but Ignotus has extra cloaks in his vault, he was the ancestor that was in the Order and placed the spell on his family. Back then it wasn't to big, more of a small collection of people who wanted to better their world, as a whole, at the time, but they did do things to help other species and such."

Hermione was amazed at the explanation and had to concede that it was much more believable than 'Death' giving the brothers gifts because they fooled him. Harry gave her the knowledge and they spent the rest of the day with Hermione helping Harry create the map he was making so they didn't get lost in the castle. About halfway through the day, Harry Shadow Walked to his Vault and grabbed two cloaks for Hermione and himself, then left a note on Ragnok's desk, letting him know he came by.

Around dinner time they were almost done with the map. He and Hermione then tied the cloaks to themselves so that they could be summoned to them from where ever they were and would be considered "Family Heirlooms" by the ministry. Though, Hermione's would be tied to Harry as well so that he could say that both are heirlooms and came from his vault so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves for a muggleborn having a magical artifact in her family. Right before they left, Harry wrote a letter to himself for Gwen to deliver at dinner and another for her to deliver to Shadow to register Hermione's animagus form with the ICW, under her assumed name. Hermione tried to stop him from writing to himself, but then saw the humor in what he was doing. In the end, she couldn't wait to see the staff's faces when they were done.

When they sat down to dinner Padma asked, "Where were you guys today? I didn't see you after breakfast."

Hermione answered, "Harry was teaching me some of the languages that he knows, I already knew French, he was teaching me Japanese."

An older Claw asked, "So what words did you learn?"

Hermione shrugged, "Most of them. I'm not fluent like he is, but I can speak it and understand it, I'm just a bit slow."

Flitwick overheard and said, "How is it you learned an entire language in one afternoon?"

Harry spoke up, "Well, there was a spell in one of my Family Grimoires that allows a person to transfer languages to another person."

Dumbledore said, "Why isn't that shared with the ministry?"

Harry shrugged as he chewed his food, before answering, "I think it is because it is classified as 'Family Magic'. The ministry has no claim to it, besides, the Ministry already has something like this spell, just not as good. The Ministry's is a translation spell, where as mine lets the person learn the language. I can share it with Hermione because she is a protectorate of another one of my families. Besides, she can't do the magic, only benefit from it."

Flitwick said, "Isn't it dangerous to use mind magic on another person without training Mr. Daniels."

Harry nodded, "Yes sir, but I've been teaching Hermione Occlumency from the time we met on the train. She already had a very well organized mind so really all she really needed to do was build defenses around her mind. She even skipped the part where she had to sort her memories, she already had that done. She had the mere basics down by the time we got off the train."

Flitwick was amazed. Two of his first years already knew a discipline that normally took years to develop.

He asked, "How long did it take you, Mr. Daniels?"

Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, Dumbledore lean closer, he smirked, "About a month and a half, but I had excellent teachers. Ms. Cerina was a very patient teacher and helped me out a lot. I had normal Occlumency before, that took me about 2 months to learn, but she taught me her 'Battle-based Occlumency."

Dumbledore inhaled sharply, he said, "Do you mean Erianna Cerina? The Mind Master of the American Mages?"

Harry smirked, "Yeah but she really is nice, I don't know where those rumors of her scaring a Troll away just by glaring at it, came from. She just laughs them away when I asked her about them."

Dumbledore was sweating buckets on the inside, _If she truly taught him then I and Severus are lucky to still have our minds. How on earth did he meet her?_

He quickly explained to Severus and Lily Potter, whose eyebrows were above their hairline when he was done.

The headmaster warily asked, "What else did the American Mages teach you?"

Harry smirked again and winked at Hermione who was fighting giggles herself, "Oh, a little of everything really. I was only there for a few years or so, off and on, and they were all fairly busy. They taught me some things in their spare time. Same with the other places that I went."

After he finished, he continued to eat, ignoring the looks from Dumbledore and Lily Potter. A few of his year mates and a few students above him asked if he would teach them other languages, and explain what he meant when he was explaining that some languages are better to cast spells in.

He rubbed the back of his head, which messed up his head and made some girls sigh, he said, "Well, I can get some books on other languages for you but that is the best that I can do because you guys aren't a protectorate of my family, I can help you along but really that is the best that I can do. Now, as to casting spells in other languages, I can explain why and teach the words, but then I leave it up to you to follow up on learning the languages. Anyway, the way I was taught is that a spell is created is by channeling your magic is by focusing your magic to do something specific, most people learn that speaking the word helps in focusing on what you want the magic to do. With this in mind, it is an easy step from speaking the spell to silent casting, then wandless magic. For example, _'Lumos'_, focuses your magic to create a ball of light at the tip of your wand. The incantation 'Lumos' is the basic Latin version and the one that most Brittish magicals use. But if I cast it in Albanian, 'Zjarr' it channels my intent differently and in some languages, more efficiently, so I can cast it longer and more often without it tiring me out. Now I understand that 'Lumos' is a very easy spell and takes next to no energy, but the same applies to other spells. Also, it helps if you have good control. I have very good control so I can actually change the color of the light in my 'Lumos' spell."

He demonstrated this by casting the spell and everyone watched as the bright light changed to a greenish color, then to a bright blue color. The color reminded Harry of Miku and her habit of always changing her hair color once a month. He canceled the spell and muttered a made up spell in Japanese and ran his wand over his hands and those watching saw his hands glow. Harry then ran his hands through his hair and had two lines of blue going through his hair. Hermione smiled and did the same thing and she had a strip of hair matching Harry's.

Flitwick asked about it and Harry answered, "The blue of the 'Lumos' reminded me of one my friends and she taught me this. I got caught up in school work and sort of forgot about it. So I thought I would start it back up again. I taught it to Hermione on the train and she liked it."

A Hufflepuff shouted, "Could you teach us?"

Harry shrugged, "I doubt it, I learned it in Japan and the language is a bit tricky when it comes to spells. It could go wrong and cause whatever you touch with that hand to be stained that color. The first time I tried it, I stained everything I touched silver for a day. But I'm sure that Zonkos has something that can do the same thing. The only difference is that this wont run out and it is free."

The students grumbled but decided they would spend the money rather than risk staining whatever they touched. Harry ate his dinner and spoke a bit more about the differences in magic spoken in different languages. Towards the end of dinner Gwen flashed into the Great Hall, right above Professor Snape, causing him to jump and almost fall out of his seat. This caused an uproar of laughter from the students and Harry noticed that many teachers had to hold their laughter in as well.

The majestic bird flew over to Harry and held out a letter for him. When he opened it up it read,

_Hey Harry,_

_Great news! That spell I was working on when we last spoke finally got passed. The testing got finished a few days ago and it should be in announced tomorrow at the next Wizengamot Session. I just thought you would want to know since you helped me out a bit and seemed so interested._

_I'll see you this summer kiddo, and tell that Hermione, that you've been telling me about, hello._

_A. Shadow_

Harry smiled and showed it to Hermione, she smiled and hugged him, "That's great Harry! I'm sure that it will help a lot of people. Though, really? He actually signs his name like that? 'A. Shadow'?"

Harry laughed, "Yeah he says that he would never change his name, nothing is better than signing a letter or email that way. He laughed when I told him my name. He says it's sounds like some kind of alcoholic drink."

Hermione said, "Harry Jackson Daniels? Doesn't sound like any drink I've heard of?"

Harry laughed, "No, it's an American drink, 'Jack Daniels' it's some kind of whiskey, I think."

Flitwick interrupted them, "What are you talking about Mr. Daniels?"

Harry looked at him and said, "Oh, sorry professor, my friend, Alex, was just letting me know that a spell he was working on finally passed the ICW tests to get it recognized. He was working on it the last time we saw each other and I helped a bit. Not much, just giving him a different perspective to look at but still, he knew I was interested so he just thought to let me know. It will be announced tomorrow at the ICW meeting."

Dumbledore said, "Well, can you give us a sneak peak about this new spell?"

Harry thought about it, then said, "Okay, I guess I can do that. It's fairly complex so as of right now, only I can actually cast it because I know how to."

He got up and stood in the middle of the Great Hall. He flicked his wand, very carefully, in "S" formation, then a clockwise circular motion, connecting both ends of the "S", then jabbed his wand forward. As he did this he said, with a very focused look on his face, "Lorem Fenestra!". At once a loud _crack_ seemed to form, with a hole as black as night in the center. All of a suddenly rotated and faded at the same time, then reappeared in a different spot, farther away from Harry.

The hall was speechless, until an older Slytherin stood up and sneered, "That's it? It doesn't do anything."

Harry shrugged, "No it does something, but that is just what it looks like. Professor Flitwick? Could you cast a spell at me? It doesn't matter what it is, just cast something at me."

Flitwick looked dubiously at his student, then nodded. He faced Harry in the middle of the hall and cast a tickling hex at Harry, who responded with the "Black Hole" spell. The tickling hex was swallowed up by the black hole and then it reappeared behind the smart mouth Slytherin and released the hex. The Slytherin was on the ground laughing before anyone knew what was happening. After a few seconds, Flitwick realized that he was still powering the spell and ended it.

The other people in the hall didn't know what to think.

Harry explained, "It takes the spell directed at it and swallows it, the spits it out somewhere else. That is the best way I can describe it."

Dumbledore and the other professors were really the only ones to understand what the spell could mean, but didn't say anything. Harry went back to sit down next to Hermione and finish his dessert.

Dumbledore asked, "Mr. Daniels, could you tell me about this, Mr. Shadow?"

Harry smiled, "Not really, he's really just a nice guy I met from America."

Dumbledore jumped on it, "So you met him in America?"

Harry answered, "Isn't that what I said? But I don't think he is an American. Probably just visiting."

Lily said, "What makes you say that?"

Harry shrugged, "Nothing really, his accent wasn't from any part of America that I had been to, it sounded like he had been all over and he said some expressions that I remember from when I was at Potter Manor, purely British sayings. He even said some expressions from China and India. He never really said where he was from, when I asked, he only said, 'From wherever sounded good.' He respected my wish to not talk about my past, so I did the same."

Dumbledore asked, "Well, what did he look like and what is his first name?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, he had black hair, a bit taller than average. He has a goatee and he has a tan that he said he got from working in Egypt and Brazil. I don't really know how old he is though. His name is Alex Shadow."

Hermione had to stifle her giggles, _He just described himself when he is older!_

Harry smirked, "Yes Hermione, we know you think the name is funny, he thought so too, that is why he picked it."

Dumbledore said, "What do you mean? How did he pick it?"

Harry shrugged, "He didn't explain but I think he was originally from Britain, or at least that is where his family was from and they were killed in the war. After that he changed his name. I didn't ask about it because it seemed to get him down."

Dumbledore nodded, "Well, thank you for answering our questions and showing us this new spell. It's time for all of you to go on up to bed. Now, pip pip!"

Harry rolled his eyes but he got up with the rest of the Ravenclaws.

Flitwick told him, "Mr. Daniels, 10 points to Ravenclaw for showing us yet another new spell."

Harry smiled, "Thanks professor. I should be getting a package tomorrow and it should have the list of spells that we talked about."

The charms professor nodded his thanks and the students continued to their common rooms. Once there, Harry and Hermione continued working on the map they were making.

Harry smiled when he realized something, "Hermione, we need to come up with a name for your animal."

Hermione smiled and thought for a few minutes, "I suppose that Nightfang will work."

Harry smiled, "I like it."

Hermione smiled, "What's your name?"

Harry smiled, "Well, not many people name their forms, again it brings attention to themselves but I had a friend who saw my form and he said that I could hide in shadows as easily as I breath. So I named myself Shadowclaw."

Hermione smirked and said, "Well, I guess we are Shadowclaw and Nightfang. Though, maybe that should be just for our cat forms, for our natural forms how about Raptor for you and Talon for me?"

Harry nodded, "I like 'em so I guess we know what we are going to put on the map."

Hermione nodded, then said, "What if we somehow make the map show where people are? That way, if we need to find someone, we can."

Harry nodded slowly, "I guess that could work. Though we would need a way to show where people would be at, at all times. We could try and tie the map to the wards of the castle, at least the non-threatening wards. Just the standard life and identification wards. It may take a bit longer but we should be able to do it."

Hermione said, "But we would need to make it so that no one else could tell what it is. Maybe like putting a password on it, something that only we know."

Harry nodded, "Well, we already have the password then, the motto for the Shadows. Though, I may be paranoid, but we should also make it so that there are commands that we can say to make certain things on the map show. Like what you said about finding someone, we can make a command to highlight anyone we are looking for, and we both know that McGonagall is an animagus and I know for a fact that my biological father and his friend Lord Black are unregistered animagi. Maybe we could put a command in the map to change the color of people who are using magical means to hide and different colors for those that are in their animagus forms."

Hermione nodded emphatically, "Yes, and we should also make it so that we can hide ourselves from the map if it falls into the wrong hands and isn't cleared. Create a spell to cast that will remove us from the map and a counter curse that only we know so we can find each other all the time."

Harry thought for a moment, "We could do that and also make it so that the map only shows itself to those that are touching it when they activate it as a way to make sure it is clear, no matter what."

Hermione nodded and they wrote down everything they wanted the map to do. Harry also mentioned that they should make it disguise itself as a homework assignment when hit with a revealing spell and use shadow magic to protect it from fire and water, as well as summoning spells. They worked on the map well into the night, but around 1 in the morning, they decided to head to bed.

In the morning Harry and Hermione were slightly more tired than normal because of their late night. Luckily it was a Sunday and they had no classes. They headed down to breakfast around 8. When they got down, they talked quietly to themselves and did not really interact with many others. They spoke with Padma a bit but she, along with Su Li, were really the only ones of their year group that they got along with. Harry spoke with the guys in his dorm but really, they didn't share the same interests as he did. Most other claws were too caught up in their studies to really want to talk. Harry assumed that it was because they thought it was expected of them, being in the house of Knowledge. Harry thought that, while having knowledge was a good thing, not living to use it was just a waste so it was just Harry and Hermione who really hung out with each other outside of their studies. Because of this, they were the 'outcasts' of Ravenclaw, even though they were the top of their class. Padma lived a little outside of school because of her sister and she dragged Su Li, who was almost too shy to be in public, with her. Lisa, Mandy and Morag simply ignored Harry and Hermione and focused on their classwork. They were apart of the group that resented Harry and Hermione for their knowledge.

After a short while, the mail post came and Hedwig appeared again and started pilfering Harry's bacon and soaking in the attention from Hermione.

Harry smirked, "Careful Hermione, if you keep that up, she may want to come home with you instead of me."

Hermione scowled playfully, "No, she just enjoys a bit of attention, don't you Hedwig."

Harry snorted, "Don't let her trick you, she is an attention whore and a bacon thief."

Hedwig barked at him and playfully nipped his fingers, then turned all her attention on Hermione, causing everyone watching to laugh and Harry to smirk.

"I see how it is Hed, fine be that way, next time I wont save you a plate of bacon, I'll just eat it myself."

With that he brought out a plate he had hidden, Hedwig eyed it, then hopped up on his shoulder and nuzzled his ear.

Harry laughed at Hermione's expression, "Ha! See, I told ya."

Hedwig immediately pecked his ear, stole the slice of bacon off the plate and hopped back to Hermione, again causing people to laugh at the owl's antics. Before Harry could respond Hermione passed the _Prophet_, which she had been looking at, to him. The first thing he saw was a full retraction of the previous day's story and an apology to him. He smirked and nodded his approval. No one said anything about the story but all were aware that Harry was probably the first person to get a full apology from the paper.

All through breakfast, Harry was reaching out with his senses to feel the wards on the castle and see if he could connect the map to them, even if they weren't on the grounds. Hermione was doing the same thing. About half way through breakfast, Gwen appeared with a stack of books and a few lengthy pieces of parchment.

After Harry took the parchment off the books, he read the titles and smirked, "Finally! Something to read. These will keep me busy for a while."

Hermione looked at them, "What subjects are they about?"

Harry smirked, "Obscure Runes from around the world, moderately difficult Arithmancy and some books on Defense, real defense, not the easy stuff they teach here. The note says that Transfiguration and Charms are all at the international level so I don't need books on those, Herbology is more practical than theory, both of which are up to par, same as Potions, if we had a decent teacher. I swear, Mr. Sho Jung is going to hate me come summer. I haven't been practicing at all, hopefully he will go easy on me, knowing who I have for a professor. Astronomy is, again, more practical than theory. History is not really even considered. I did a lot of that in my spare time. Having a ghost teach about nothing but the goblin wars is not something that most people consider 'great learning', anyone getting an OWL or NEWT in that class has to study on their own to get anything other than an 'Acceptable'. I remember Mr. Sho Jung telling me about Prof. Binns being the history teacher when he was our age and he is in his 190s. As for Divination, I was tested for the gift, I don't have it and the professor told me that reading tea leaves is usually more wrong than right."

Dumbledore was angry, Harry was again discounting his school and saying it wasn't the best, "Mr. Po- Daniels, may I ask who was the professor that told you all of this?"

Harry said, "Well for Divination it was Alcina Delis, I met her in Greece, do you know her? She is suppose to be a really well known seer."

Again Dumbledore paled, "Uh, um... Yes, I have heard of her." _How does he know all of these people? How did he move around the world and somehow meet them?_ He continued, "And how about the other professors?"

Harry thought for a few moments, "Well, I met the people who taught me a bit of transfiguration and charms in the American Mages, at least, that is where I learned the most. There were a few other people in other countries. The defense I was taught is just from all around, though a big portion of it came from Australia, at least the magical portion. I trained in Japan and India and a few other places in the martial arts, the rest of my instruction was just combining different ways of dueling and such from different countries. Though there is a bit more on the creatures that I don't really know, than anything. Astronomy was taught in Argentina and Chile, same with Herbology. Arithmancy, I just started learning because it looked interesting and Ancient Runes because I was in Egypt and came across a few and just sort of click with them. History, I just picked up books in different parts of the world and most of the American Mages, that I know, told me what I need to know about the OWLs and NEWTs, the others didn't care to find out. They just knew that Britain wasn't very high up on the list for OWL and NEWT scores for that subject. Most couldn't even think about why he is being kept here, though a few had a theory."

Flitwick, liking the complete honesty and constructive criticism that Harry was providing asked, "And what would be that theory?"

Harry shrugged, "That it's a whole lot cheaper then having to find a new teacher and paying them when you have a ghost that works for free." a people gasped and snorted into their goblets.

Snape sneered, "What did you mean with your comment about Sho Jung going easy on you because of your teacher?"

Harry looked at him and asked, "Are you sure you want the answer? And if you don't like it then I will not be punished?"

Snape sneered and said, "Fine! Just answer the question!"

Harry looked at him innocently and said with honesty, "Most potions Masters around the world respect you for being one of the youngest to get your mastery, but they don't really like you because you are damaging the profession. They know your 'teaching methods' and know that it is costing the field new possible masters. In the past 11 years, there have been 3 new Potion's Masters that came out of Britain and none of them out of Hogwarts. Not to mention that the number of Healers and Aurors has dropped by almost 70% in the last 11 years." people were left gaping at the obvious insult.

Snape bristled and said, "40 points from Ravenclaw for insulting a teacher and detention tonight!"

Harry looked at him, "I don't think so, _professor_ take a look at the point counter and you'll see that Hogwarts disagrees with you. You gave your word and now you are trying to go back on it? I don't think so. Just because of you don't like what people say about you doesn't mean that you can take it out on students. Besides, point deduction must be discussed with my head of house." there was silence in the Great Hall.

Harry again, just ignored the looks he was getting and continued eating his breakfast. Hermione was doing the same, as the staff was talking amongst themselves as were the students. At the Gryffindor table Chris, Ron and Neville were talking themselves into believing Harry was lying, as were a few other students, including Malfoy and his group of followers. At the staff table, Snape was explaining that Sho Jung is considered the best Potion's Master in the world, he lives in Japan and very hard to contact if you are a foreigner.

After they finished their food, Harry handed Flitwick the scrolls explaining that they were lists from other countries with spells from three years back that are not well known in Britain. Both Ravenclaws went exploring the castle for a bit, trying to get a feel for the wards. Finally, they came upon the third floor corridor. Before, Hermione may have balked at the idea of disobeying the rules, but now, she understood that the magical world, at least in Britain, was barmy and made no sense. They looked around and did not see anyone, Harry scanned the area with his contacts and saw no one hiding by magic so they quickly cloaked themselves in shadow and shadow walked to the other side of the door. Once inside, they nearly gasped at what they saw. It was a huge three headed dog, luckily it was asleep. They silenced themselves so as to not wake up the giant beast.

Hermione saw something and went to say something, but Harry stopped her then erected a wall of silence between them and the creature.

She said, "Do you see what it's standing on?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, a trap door. And a Cerberus is only ever used to guard something."

She nodded, then they disillusioned themselves and shadow walked out of the room, back to the other side of the door. They were immediately glad that they had made themselves invisible because came out of the shadows right in front of three gryffindors that they did not want to see. But instead of walking away, they decided to stay and listen.

Chris said, "I know Snape was trying to get past that dog. I saw him limping the other day. He must have let the troll in to distract everyone on Halloween. But what is in there, besides the trap door that said you saw, Neville?"

Neville replied, "I don't know. I just saw it as we ran out."

Chris sighed, "If we could just figure it out. I just know it has something to do with whatever Hagrid picked up from the bank, the day we met him in the alley. It was the same day that that break in happened."

Neville shrugged, "Well, maybe we could ask Hagrid, you know how he is with secrets. He may let something slip."

Ron spoke up, "Your right mate. But we should get out of here before Filch finds us. We can't afford to lose any more points, not after what that bastard Daniels and the know-it-all beaver did on Halloween. I mean, really, why couldn't they let their betters take the credit and just shut up."

Harry reached for Hermione's hand and squeezed it, letting her know to not listen to them. She squeezed back, letting him know that she didn't care. Harry though, got angry that they were insulting her again, even after what happened.

He stopped his inner thoughts when he heard Ron continue, "I mean my mum said that I wont be able to do anything for the first part of summer because of what they did and that I have to de-gnome the garden every week of summer without any help!"

Chris nodded, "Yeah, my parents, mainly my mum said that I can't fly for the first week of summer, or at all during the Christmas hols."

Ron nodded, "My mum said that I would be de-gnoming the garden during Christmas if her and my dad weren't going to visit Charlie."

Neville said, "My gran said that I can't do anything in my greenhouse for the first week of Summer and I have to have an elf water the plants and over the Hols I have to write her an apology letter, to be given to my gran to look at then mailed to her."

Chris growled, "Bloody claws. He was better off gone, why did he have to come back? It's not like he was missed. Sure mum was sad at first but she got over him. Now he has to come back and cause problems for me. And does he honestly expect anyone to believe that he learned all that from those people?"

Harry had heard enough and cast _aguamenti _at the three students, shocking them, then he cast _glacius_ freezing them in place. He did this all silently and without his wand, so there would be no way it could be connected to them, then "grabbed" the magic around the spells and tied it to their wands to show it was their wands that cast the spell. Afterwards, he and Hermione walked away, leaving the three "Gryffin-pops" alone.

Once they were in a deserted classroom Harry warded it and they burst out laughing.

Afterwards Hermione said, "I think we should prank people. I mean, before I wouldn't dream of it, but I already know everything that they will teach us here and we can do things to ensure that we can never be caught. And when they finally come right out and ask, I think we shouldn't claim knowing any advanced skills above third year, maybe a few fourth year spells. It will keep them guessing"

Harry smiled, "I do believe that I have corrupted you, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed and slapped his arm, "Shut up."

Harry chuckled, "I like the idea. Though, Arithmancy and Runes are out, they know how advanced I am in Runes and Arithmancy, but we can put that off as just world traveled. As for pranking, it would be more challenging than classes are and we know enough to keep our academic standing where it is. I suppose we could use our advanced skills for pranking. But either we only prank bullies, a whole house or the school as a whole. And never the bullies all the time, otherwise we become the bullies. We space them out and make the pranks look good. We also need to make a statement and I know just what to do." he finished with a feral smirk.

They talked about what they would do and laughed a bit more as they thought of pranks they could do. After a while, Harry and Hermione transfigured the room to make it bigger and have more room to work out. After they did that, Harry had Hermione do a few exercises to warm up then they went through the same routine that he did every morning. By the end, Hermione was nearly dead on her feet and Harry was sufficiently worn out. They took a little break and had one of the castle's elves, Moppy, bring them some food and drinks. After their break they talked a bit more about magical theory. During their conversation Harry had an idea and shadow walked out of the room to get an "EverPage Journal" out of his trunk. He grabbed a spare he had and brought them back to the room.

He handed it to Hermione and said, "Here, use it to write down all the basic spells that you know, then underneath each spell, write the different ways that you can use that spell in a duel. And any other ways you can think to use that spell. It won't run out of pages, ever. When your done with that, then work your way up to the more moderately difficult spells and do the same, but in a different book, then onward up the difficulty. Don't think battle oriented spells, though you can use them for different things, you should put those in a separate journal. What I am trying to get you to do is to think outside the box when it comes to spells. The simpler they are the more people will not be expecting them in a duel. Eventually I'll have you write your own 'Battle' Spell book. It will have the spells that you would use in battle in it, along with the spell-chains that I will have you create. But again, remember that magic is all about intent. All you have to do is to tell your magic to do something and it will do it the way you want it done. This means that you can do anything that your mind can think of with your magic, if you are strong enough and have enough focus. You technically don't even need spells, you just need to will something to happen and it will. Spells just make it easier to think of the effects you want to happen."

Hermione nodded and they spent the next two hours going over spells. Harry did the same as Hermione and they came up with nearly a page and a half for each spell. After they were done for the day, Harry went through some of the martial arts with Hermione. They quickly found that she was much more oriented towards Aikido and Judo, rather than the forms that relied more on strength. They practiced those forms more so because Harry preferred them to the "brute force" type of forms as well. After a while they stopped and just talked for a bit. Harry explained what he was planning for the "statement" they would make and after explaining it a little, Hermione agreed and laughed, imagining the faces of people that would be involved. As the evening wore on they left the room and decided to put in an appearance around the castle and just walked aimlessly around the grounds, talking about classes and whatever they could think of. Eventually Harry remembered that Hermione's parents would need to be spoken to about the Shadows and had Hermione write them a letter explaining that a Walker would be there later in the evening and sent it to them with Gwen. Around dinner time they headed to the Great Hall. Again they were asked where they had been all day, but they just gave the explanation that Harry was again teaching Hermione another language, this time Italian.

X0X0X0X0

That evening, Dan and Emma Granger were finishing up dinner when they heard a knock at the door. From the letter from Hermione they received earlier from a beautiful bird, they had an idea of who it was. Dan answered the door and found a man, about 6 feet tall with dark brown hair and a woman about 5 and a half feet tall with black hair, in an elegant braid waiting at the door. He welcomed them in and brought them to the sitting room where Emma was waiting with drinks. They introduced themselves and Rachelle and Anthony.

Rachelle started off, "I assume you both know why we are here?"

Emma said, "Well, the letter didn't say much, just that some people would come by and talk to us about an opportunity for Hermione. She said it was some what of an internship program that she would join after school."

Anthony smiled, "Something like that. I know from letters from Harry that he told you a bit about himself?"

Both Grangers nodded, Anthony continued, "Well, suffice it to say, we are the 'friends' that he spoke of. He joined us just after he got away from Britain and has been with us since."

Dan said, "Well, maybe if you could explain a bit more about what it is that Hermione will be doing?"

Rachelle nodded, "Of course. The first thing you need to understand is that Magical Britain is... different than the rest of the world. They are far older in their ways and customs and very set in them. Whereas the rest of the world has moved with the times and progresses with the mundane world. As of the 1970's magical Britain was around 150 years behind that of the mundane world. Before the new 'Muggle Studies' professor was hired, that was where they were at in understanding where the normal world is at, recently they have managed to bring their understanding up to around the late 60's to mid 70's but that doesn't mean they have moved with the times, just their understanding of the mundane world has been updated. The problem this poses to people like your daughter is that they are not treated as they should. Britain is really the last place that 'Blood Purity' has a hold on the magical society."

Dan asked, "What does that mean? 'Blood Purity'?"

Anthony sighed, "It is a bit like what Hitler was after in WW2. Those of 'Pure Blood', meaning that their ancestors back several generations, almost back to the time of the founders, were witches and wizards, believe they are better than those of 'lesser blood'. What this means is that they control a large portion of the society, meaning the government. This means that over the years, what the purebloods have found harder to do usually finds itself banned from being learned, to make it so that the 1st generation witches and wizards are only allowed to learn what the purebloods can do. Later on the purebloods can learn more magic through their family histories and personal spell books. This puts everyone that is not a pureblood and does not belong to the 'Right' families at a large disadvantage. It also means that when they go to get a job, more purebloods are looked at first. I will not lie, the British Ministry of Magic is very corrupt. Those with money can do what they wish and get away with it." seeing the disgusted look on Dan's face he continued, "And before you think about it, know that if you were to pull your daughter from school, the ministry can and will wipe her knowledge of the magical world and bind her magic which would lead to other problems later in life. What we offered is a chance to change some of this. What our organization does is work in the shadows to try and make things better not just for witches and wizards in general, but also for the different magical species. The British magical society is very stupid when it comes to this. They place their money and entire economy with a magical species, the Goblins, but at the same time, give them almost no respect whatsoever. What's more is that they think mundanes, such as yourselves are little more than animals, even though the global population out numbers magicals by at least 1500 to 1."

Rachelle picked it up, "We don't mean for you to think that all magicals are bad, just that British magicals are set in their ways and isolate themselves because of this. In most other countries, we live as mundanes and some even work in the mundane world. What we are offering Hermione is a chance to better herself and help change the way magical societies look at different people and species. The only thing that we will ask of her is that after she finishes school and perhaps during the summer breaks she travel to some other countries and experience other magical cultures to get a view of the world outside of Britain. We would pay for the travel expenses for you and only request that you stay in some of our hotels. We own many hotels and small villas around the world. This way, if she would like to learn about what we do or some magic that is only found in that country, she can. However, there are secrecy issues."

Dan and Emma both liked the sound of what they were offering but Dan raised an eyebrow about secrecy, "Why? This isn't illegal or anything right?"

Anthony shook his head, "No, but the reason we work in the shadows is so that we can get things done and without the normal difficulties that go with politics. However, the British Ministry would have a problem with it, simply because they cannot control us. What we do, we do not do for credit, but for the betterment of the magical world. Also, we practice a type of magic that is not known to any outside of our order. The reason for this is that sometimes we work as body guards and spies to ferret out information from corrupt politicians and to get information to try and predict where trouble may arise. We also place some of our members in the government to try and change it from the inside."

Emma said, "I'm not sure I like the idea of my 12 year old daughter spying and being a body guard."

Rachelle shook her head, "No, that type of work is strictly volunteer and always in teams. We never send anyone alone when doing that type of work. For body guard work, one is always visible and one is always invisible so that they protect each other. Also, this is farther down the line in time, after they have at least passed their OWLs and usually only a few, most do not do this work until after their NEWTs. Any time someone wants out of the order, they are simply memory wiped of any information that can hurt the order and sent on their way. We never ask anyone to do anything they aren't comfortable with. Also, every member is given knowledge of advanced magic and combat skills upon their entry."

Dan said, "So does that mean that Hermione already knows this?"

Anthony said, "Most likely, nothing is dangerous about it. The knowledge is simply copied from one person's mind and put in another. Harry has probably already done this with your daughter, but he most likely did it as one friend to another. He doesn't really have any other friends his age. He is the youngest in the order, but he was an exception."

Dan said, "Oh? What made him so different?"

Rachelle replied, "Well, what you have to understand is that there are very few people in the world like him. He understands magic instinctively. He uses magic like a master. He just understands how it works at a different level than most other people. Some would say that he is a prodigy. Also, it helped that he pretty much portkeyed into one of our high level meetings." she finished with a laugh.

Emma asked, "If that was the reason for Harry getting into this, 'order' then why are you offering the opportunity to Hermione now, why not later?"

Rachelle answered, "Because, from what Harry has written, she is like him. She understands magic better than most people 3 times her age. She may go about it the opposite as Harry, but the results are still the same. She studies a spell and almost immediately understands it. While Harry performs the spell, then studies and understands it. Also, we would have looked into her anyway after a certain point simply because of her knowledge, ability and because she is a 1st generation. As of right now, she could pass her OWLs and NEWTs. The equivalent of her A-levels, I think is what they are called here. It's different in the States but after she takes her NEWTs the last year of her time at Hogwarts, she is done with school unless she wants to go on and get a Mastery in a specific field of study. Even then, she has the chance to pass multiple Masteries as of now. Though, with more study, she would have a better chance at passing them. The British educational system is also not the best in terms of other countries. Granted, they were not lying when they told you that Hogwarts is the best, but what they did not say is that it is also one of the few schools in the UK and the others do not get a whole lot of funding so they barely pass in some classes. Only Europe and mostly just in Britain still use quills and parchment. Most just get by with paper and pens, though some government files are important enough to use parchment simply because it lasts longer than normal paper."

Dan and Emma thought about it and excused themselves to talk privately. They both agreed that it would give Hermione more chances in what really seemed like a bigoted and racist world, though they knew some of this from Harry's letter earlier in the school year. They truly didn't see many problems with it and liked that it was completely volunteer based, but wondered about money.

When they asked about it, Rachelle laughed, "Don't worry, while the British Ministry doesn't know about us, there are plenty of other countries that know of us and agree with our philosophy to a point, they just don't want to be in the shadows. They are under oaths not to betray our secrets though. The order helps with getting jobs for it's members, be it in other countries' governments or whatever. We may not get recognition for what we do, we still get payed. The order has been around for a very long time and over the centuries our wealth has built up. We use it strictly to pay our members a small amount and also pay the bills on any properties we own. The goblins know of us and also consider us friends, which helps with any bills that we have and also gets us premium rates for interest on our accounts."

Dan asked, "What happens if she wants to leave later in life?"

Rachelle said, "Well like we said earlier, she will have her memories of the order erased and will be free to move on with her life. If she gets a job that we helped her get, she can still keep the job. She would also keep most of the knowledge she has, minus the special branch that we practice."

Emma said, "Yes, but what about people she meets? Harry was really the first person her age to befriend her. She never related to her peers because of her intellect."

Rachelle smiled, "Don't worry, she will remember him, simply because she knew him before entering. And any other close friends she meets will not be erased, but the memory of their meeting would be modified. I have a friend who used to be in the order but she wanted out because her career was taking off and she felt she could do more in the spotlight than out and did not want to compromise the order in anyway because of her higher status. So she chose to leave the order all together. We met during our training and we are still very good friends, but now she thinks we met one day at a restaurant where we were both stood up by different guys." she finished with a laugh.

Both Grangers looked at each other and nodded their agreement. What followed was the two Walkers casting wards around the house for protection and also charming their wedding rings to protect both their persons and their minds from attack. They also made them portkeys to take them to safety. Finally, they explained the different identity that Hermione would have, Miranda Grey, and how she would have citizenship in nearly every country and how she would actually be two different people. They explained the reason they did this is so that a few special skills that she would have would be registered but under her other name. Everything would be completely legal and above reproach. After they left, both Dan and Emma felt they had done the right thing but would be talking to Hermione during the Christmas holidays.

A/N - I have found that it is hard for me to write a decent newspaper story for Fanfiction so I didn't bother, instead I just went with a general idea of what I wanted the newspaper to say.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.

Chapter 6

The following weeks passed by quickly for Harry and Hermione. No one ever figured out who froze the three Gryffindors by the forbidden corridor, though many suspected Harry and Hermione, they could never prove it. The two Ravenclaws spent their mornings exercising and building Hermione up to Harry's level of fitness as well as working on Hermione's true animagus form. They also continued to keep up with their classes and took notes so as to not draw attention to themselves. They had to make sure not to flaunt their power and had to force themselves to "fail" at the spells for the first few times, but always seemed to be the first to successfully cast the spells. All the while, they continued to prank Chris and his friends. A few times they got help from the Weasley twins and managed some spectacular pranks. Regarding the Marauders, Harry and Hermione hit Chris with that antler spell and caused him to sprout huge antlers from his head, they also cast some spells at Ron and Neville to imitate the other Marauders, Ron grew a tail and a snout and walked on his hands and legs for a day and Neville grew a snout and howled at the moon at different times of the night, each time he woke up the rest of Gryffindor house. The only people that seemed to understand the significance of the pranks were the three boys themselves, Lily Potter, the headmaster and Snape. They walked around cautiously for the days following the prank and watched everyone carefully.

One night at dinner, Harry and Hermione switched Snape's meal out for raw potions' ingredients, though nothing harmful, causing the man to spit out his food and get new food, only for it to happen again. At the same time they had an on going prank on the headmaster, every time he went to eat, his food would transform into lemon drops. Lily Potter had an army of library books following her around, yelling out the words of the first chapter in each book. McGonagall's classroom was filled with cat nip. A few times, Harry and Hermione pranked themselves to throw suspicion off of themselves; Harry would speak only other languages, while Hermione would have a hoard of books chase her, or have her books and parchment stick to her hands.

The most notable event was at the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor quidditch match. During which a rogue bludger seemed to take an interest in Chris. Every time it was it in one direction, it seemed to head towards the savior of the wizarding world. No one really knew what to make of it and it wasn't noticed for a bit. During that time, Harry concentrated on it and "saw" a thick tendril of magic connecting it with the DADA professor, Quirrell. Harry also "saw" a thin tendril connecting to it, coming from Snape. Harry could tell that whatever Snape was trying to do wasn't working so he sighed and left his seat. He quickly explained to Hermione what was happening and disillusioned himself and shadow walked closer to the teachers. He wandlessly sent a bludgeoning curse at the bench beneath both professors and watched as the loud _Crack!_ was heard and nearly everyone on the bench, including Quirrell and Snape, fell backward off it. Afterward the bludger seemed to set itself right and the game went on for a few more minutes before the Gryffindor seeker, Cormac McLaggen, got lucky and caught the snitch, but in the process plowed straight into the ground because he didn't pull out of a steep dive. The Gryffs won, 210 to 100, but their seeker was in the hospital for two days with both arms broken, plenty of missing teeth and a broken clavicle.

In the first week of December, Harry and Hermione spied on the "Gryffindor Stooges" as they called them, and found out that Hagrid mentioned something about a man called Nicholas Flamel when they went to question him about the three headed dog, which turned out to be named 'Fluffy'. Being able to remember pretty much everything, both Harry and Hermione knew who the man was, the famous alchemist and oldest man living. Both of them agreed that this meant that the thing that was almost stolen from Gringotts and the thing that was being protected on the third floor was most likely the sorcerer's stone. Their curiosity sated, Harry and Hermione put it out of their minds but decided to keep an eye on the three gryffindors just in case. They agreed that it seemed like someone was leading them on and wanted them to know about the stone. Harry personally thought it was the headmaster but didn't know to what end. Also, he had a feeling that it was connected to whatever was going on with Quirrell.

They were a bit surprised to see the three Gryffindors in the library for the following week, but realized that they were looking for information on Flamel. They were forced to ignore the glaring the three sent their way and focus on what they were doing, which was continuing to write down simple spells to use in a duel and other things. They also started making lists of personal spell chains.

After a few days of the glaring Harry got tired of it and devised a way to get them out of the library. While they didn't have to study there, it was a nice, quiet place to talk and continue what they were doing with their spell journals and the map, which they estimated would be done before they left for break.

One day about half way through the week Harry and Hermione made sure to spell the other tables with aversion wards to make the trio sit closer to them. When they did, Hermione and Harry started speaking in Japanese. They were still speaking about what they were doing with their plans but every so often they would glance over to the Gryffindors' table and smirk. Eventually Hermione laughed slightly louder than normal, but within the limits of the library, and Ron blew up.

"Can't you two speak English! It's not enough that no one likes you, but now you have to speak a different language? And we can see you looking at us, stop talking about us!"

Harry's gaze cooled, "Sorry Weasley, but not everything revolves around you or boy wonder over there. We weren't talking about you, we were talking about our plans for the holidays and about some of the past holidays. The reason we were looking your direction is that I was telling Hermione about some of the last holiday I spent as a Potter and how Potter over there" he pointed to Chris, "gorged himself sick that year on just cookies and cake." Chris flushed and glared at Harry.

He angrily spat, "Well at least I have some place to go for Christmas, someplace where people want me!"

Harry smirked, "Well, considering that if Hermione's parents hadn't invited me over I would be spending it in the Bahamas, on a beach with girls in bikinis, I'd say I'm the lucky one. Much better than staying inside while it's to cold to even be outside."

Harry saw a spark of jealousy in Chris' eye but didn't say anything about it as Madam Pince came marching up to them.

"This is a library! Students are trying to study in here!"

Harry said, "I apologize ma'am. I like to take advantage of the silence in here and was until those," he pointed to the three Gryffindors, "started berating Hermione and I for having a quiet conversation."

Ron jumped up and said loudly, "Then why were you talking in the funny language?"

Madam Pince glared at him and he was silenced immediately, Harry responded quietly, "That would be because I was making sure that the spell for languages I put on her, took and she could speak it fluently, Weasley."

Hermione spoke, "We apologize Madam Pince, we will go if you wish. We were just taking notes on some books that looked interesting for next term."

She looked at them for a few moments then said, "No, I know you two are usually quiet and this is the first offence. You three," she turned to the Gryffindors, "need to leave. This isn't the first time I have had to tell you to leave because you were disruptive. Next time it will be a detention! Now, Out! OUT!"

The Gryffindors scrambled out of their chairs and ran out of the library, before they rounded the corner though they sent the two Ravens glares and Hermione and Harry smirked at them. After that, the three Gryffindors did not return.

Harry and Hermione continued working on their spell chains and the map. A week after the library incident, they had finally got it attached to the wards. Now all that was left was the spells to detect animagus transformations and other magical means of disguises, the password and commands as well as the charms to hide it from others. About this time, Hermione suggested that they start using Arithmancy to break down the spells they learned in class and try and make them better or at least their own.

She argued, "This way it will at least give us something to do. We could even put an illusion over our work to make it look like notes for class."

Harry agreed but they decided they wouldn't start until they came back from the Christmas Holidays.

When it came time to sign up to leave for the holidays, Harry and Hermione both signed their names. A few days later, Lily came up to Harry in a corridor as he and Hermione were exploring the castle a bit.

She said, "Um, Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Harry glanced at Hermione, then shrugged, "Sure, talk and walk Professor."

Lily cringed at the use of her formal title, but kept pace with the two first years as they made their way around the castle.

She started, "So I heard from Chris that you were spending Christmas with Ms. Granger's family?"

Harry smiled at Hermione, "Yeah, she wrote to her folks and asked. They said yes, it's better than what I had planned." Hermione blushed and hid her face.

Lily pushed on, "What did you have planned before that? Just stay in the castle?"

Harry shook his head, "God no. I would have taken up a friend's offer to put me up on an island in the Bahamas. He wouldn't really have been there, he would be home spending Christmas with his family, but he would have let me use his bungalow. He invited me once, but I don't really do family stuff all that well and his family traditions were different than what I am used to, they stay up all night and open their presents right at midnight"

He laughed, remembering the conversation. "When I asked, he joked and said,'Well, the tropics are better than an old drafty castle in the snow. At least, you aren't freezing and have bikini clad girls to look at.' I agreed until I had a better offer. I already know Hermione's parents from on the platform and they seemed like nice people so I'll spend Christmas with them, maybe take them somewhere as a thank you."

Lily had a pained look on her face and fought back the urge to chastise him for the "bikini" comment.

"Well, I thought you might like to spend Christmas with us?"

Harry looked at her oddly, "Why? I mean, thanks for the offer, but we don't really know each other and I've already done Christmas with the Potters. Just like I've done Christmas with Miku's family and Jamel's family. This year, I think I'll do the holidays with the Grangers."

Lily stifled back a sob when he said they don't know each other, but pushed on, "But we are your family. How are you suppose to get to know us if you don't spend time with us?"

Harry's face went blank. He responded flatly, "No, you are not my family, that would be Miku, Jamel, Ms. Cerina and the others that I've spent time with. Even the Grangers are more family than the Potters, so no, I will not be spending Christmas with _your_ family. Thank you for the offer though." at the end his face went back to being cheerful again.

Lily had tears in her eyes as they came to a stop.

"I think this is where we leave you. I'll see you later Professor Potter."

Lily looked around and realized that she was at her office. After thinking for a moment, she turned and walked towards the Headmaster's office. When she got there, she saw James, Sirius and Remus sitting with the Headmaster.

She said, sadly, "He said no. He said he's spending Christmas with the Grangers and if they hadn't invited him, he would be spending it on a tropical island in a friends bungalow."

The four men looked sad, James said, "What did he say when you said the holidays are a time for family?"

Lily let her tears flow, "He said that we didn't know each other and that it is a time for family so he wouldn't intrude on ours. He said he doesn't do 'family stuff' well and that his family are the people he has met and spent time with in other countries."

Sirius said, "Well, we deserve that. We didn't exactly treat him like family." Remus agreed.

James said, "Maybe we could change his mind. Keep talking to him about it and maybe ask him in front of the family he is staying at if he would come over, just for a day or so, over the break."

Remus said, "You would rather guilt him into spending time with us than let it be his own choice?"

James replied, "If it is a way for him to just try and get to know us, then yes! It is the only way that we can get to know him again."

Sirius threw his hands up, "Why not just put compulsions on him to get him to spend time with you? After he realizes that you are trying to guilt him into it, he will just stop all together. From what I've heard, he's been nothing but cheerful and polite, try and force him to do something and that could change."

Dumbledore spoke up, "I'm afraid that compulsions and other related spells will not work on Mister Potter. His Occlumency training protects him from it."

Remus, ignoring the compulsions comment, raised an eyebrow, "He knows Occlumency?"

James snorted, "So he says, but I'm not so sure."

Dumbledore said, "I am sure, James. He could very easily crush Severus' mind. He caught me off guard last time, that wont happen again. He seems to have also taught the art to Miss Granger."

James scowled, "I don't understand why he hangs out with her. It's like she is his only friend, why not try and make friends with Chris and the boys?"

Lily answered, "Remember what he said the first day of term? I would imagine that he doesn't really like Chris all that much. I'm also positive that it was he who froze them outside the third floor."

Dumbledore said, "Be that as it may, we can not prove that he did it. We checked his wand and it shows nothing from outside of his classes. We also suspect him of what happened to me and the earmuffs but again, we can't prove anything. I say, he seems to be better at hiding in plain sight than you three when you were in school." he looked at the three marauders.

The old man continued, "On an unrelated topic, I am happy to say that the Wizengamot has reached a vote on repealing the old law that Harry enacted upon you, James, along with Frank, Arthur and Lucius Malfoy. That will not be happening again."

James nodded. After that, they talked for a bit longer about how to get Harry over for the holidays.

X0X0X0X0

Harry and Hermione continued walking around the castle exploring it more to add to the map.

After a while Hermione said, "You don't think they will let up about you spending Christmas with them, do you?"

Harry shook his head, "No, they will probably continue pestering me until we leave in two days. Then probably try and guilt me into agreeing when they ask in front of your parents."

Hermione scowled, "Don't they realize that forcing you to spend time with them will only make it worse for them?"

Harry smirked, "Probably, but they're desperate for us to 'get to know one another again'."

Hermione stopped, then turned to him with a smirk, "You said that on purpose didn't you?"

Harry put an innocent look on his face, "Who me? Why would I want to lead the Potter family into a trap of their own making?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and shoved him with her hips. Harry laughed and did the same.

He turned serious and said, "You better be prepared for people to start insulting us again. The Wizengamot repealed the law that I used to get even with the Malfoys, Weasleys, Longbottoms and Potters. Apparently they don't like when someone uses their own laws against them."

Hermione snorted, "I wonder why? It only cost them more than the average wizard makes in two months. I'm not worried though, I've learned not to care what others think of me. That's why I seem to enjoy it when you say the things you do to the staff. Though I still have the urge to, slap you and tell you that we should respect them every so often, but it is getting more and more infrequent. Besides, I don't care what they say or think, only what you think, and maybe any other friends we make."

Harry smiled, "Well, that's good. You already know what I think of you." he leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Though, we need to start checking our food and drinks for loyalty potions, our Occlumency will protect us from the charms, but it will have a harder time with potions."

Still blushing from the kiss, Hermione said, "Do you really think that they will go that far? I mean, no matter what they want, James Potter is a famous auror."

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, but I know that they old man will try almost anything to get me on his side. The wandless magic that we can do can easily check our food and drink, we can get something over the break to look for potions."

The rest of the day was spent exploring the castle and finishing up the map. When the initial parchment was charmed, Harry got a few more pieces of parchment and transfigured them into an exact copy of the castle in map format, that was able to fold out to see the whole castle at once, then made a copy. In short order, there were two maps sitting in front of them.

Harry said, "Now the only thing to do is personalize them, what should be call ourselves?"

Hermione thought for a few minutes, "Well, we should probably send a little misdirection, make people think there are more of us then there really are. So how about, 'The House of Shadows'? That way, we can talk about Walker business, and they will just assume we are talking about school yard pranks?"

Harry beamed, "Your brilliant!"

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek again and them got to work naming the map and the four aliases that they had; Raptor, Talon, Shadowclaw and Nightfang. He didn't even notice the blush that had erupted on her face or the bright smile she gave him. They had agreed that they would use both of their forms, again for more misdirection.

After they were done with both maps, Hermione took hers and spun an illusion around it that would make it seem like it was the most boring thing in the world to whoever tries to pick it up without permission. After that, they simply went with each other to explore more of the castle for fun, they had no other plans for the day. Luckily they did not run into any undesirables.

The following morning came bright and early for Harry. He walked down to the common room and waited for Hermione to come down for their morning exercise. He didn't have to wait long, she came down 5 minutes later and they were off.

Both first years knew that they were being watched, but didn't much care. They ran their 5 miles and then 1 cool down lap around the black lake and started on their katas. When they were almost through, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin came walking down from the castle.

James asked, "What are you two doing out so early?"

Harry and Hermione did'nt say anything, instead they focused on their forms and it was another 5 minutes before they finished and grabbed a water bottle out of their bag.

James was tired of being ignored, "Why are you ignoring me? I asked you a question!"

Harry looked at him with uncaring eyes, then flicked to Sirius and Remus, "Hello Sirius, Remus, been a while hasn't it?" turning back to James, "I didn't answer because I didn't want to do something wrong and start all over again. As to why we are out here, we get up early every day and exercise. It isn't against the rules to get up early. We haven't had problems so far, so we continue to do our daily routine."

Sirius asked, "But what were you doing?"

Harry turned to him and smiled a bit, "We were practicing our katas."

Sirius smiled, "But what, may I ask, is a 'kata'?"

Ignoring the looks of pain on the Potters' faces, Harry said, "It is forms of aikido. We practice them and they start to become second nature, by practicing them in slow motion, we incorporate the movements into our muscle memory."

Sirius said, "But how is that fighting?"

Harry smirked, "Well, would you like a demonstration? Try and hit me."

Sirius looked dubious and didn't really want to hit him, Lily said, "No! Don't hit my son."

Harry narrowed his eyes at Lily, "I already told you, I am no longer a Potter, biologically, I may share some traits with you, but that is the extent of our relationship." turning to Lord Black, "Now, Sirius, try and hit me. The key word is try. I bet a galleon that you can't hit me and that you will be on your back in under 10 seconds." he finished with a smirk.

Sirius chuckled, "I don't think so. I wont bet a kid like that."

Harry shrugged, "Fine, Auror Potter, would you like to take a shot?"

James looked sick, "No, I wont hit you Harry. I may have been a bad father but I won't hit you."

Harry smirked, "You're right. How about you Remus?" he left them wondering what James was right about.

The werewolf smiled sadly, "No, I'm stronger then I look and I doubt you could beat me."

Harry scowled, "You lot are no fun, fine. Hermione, you want to spar? Talking about it has made me want to now."

Hermione smirked, "Sure, do you want offense or defense?"

Harry thought for a moment, "I'll take offense."

James said, "Enough, there will be no fighting. If you want to prove it fine, I'll hit you," turning to Lily, "Not hard dear."

Harry shrugged, "Fine lets get this over with, I'm hungry and I need a shower."

James faced Harry, while the others backed away, Hermione said, "I'll put a galleon on Harry in under 10 seconds."

Lily looked scandalized, "Miss Granger! I cannot believe that you would gamble!"

Hermione shrugged, "What? I have been doing a lot of things that I didn't think I would be doing since I met Harry. He's opened my eyes a bit to the mistakes that people make. Besides, I have to keep busy somehow. No homework means that I have more time on my hands then before. The homework assigned over the break is almost done. I'm pretty sure that there aren't many other places in the castle that we haven't seen. So Harry and I tend to make bets between each other and see how long it takes for Snape to yell at someone, along with other trivial things around the castle."

Lily looked gobsmacked while Sirius and Remus were barely holding themselves upright laughing, both marauders managed to get out that they would take her bet. After a moment for them to get control again, Harry and James started.

James started with a halfhearted attempt to hit his son. Harry easily batted it away.

He said, "Those ten seconds don't start until Auror Potter here decides to stop his crappy attempts at hitting me."

James' face screwed up a little at the insult. The next hit was a bit harder but not much. Harry again batted it away.

He taunted, "Come on James. Are all aurors this soft? Or do you just depend on magic to do everything for you?"

James just shrugged off the insult as much as he could. This went on for another few seconds until Harry reminded James and Lily about the times they forgot about him at dinner and what they did if they caught him sneaking some food afterwards.

James snarled, he knew the barb would sting Lily, and went to hit Harry will all his strength.

Harry smirked, "Finally!"

As James' fist was about to impact Harry's jaw, the other adults gasped but Harry's hand came up and grasped it as he pushed it away and twisted James' arm and used James' own momentum to kick out the Auror's legs and had him on the ground in under five seconds.

Hermione smirked, "Easiest 2 galleons I've ever made." she held her hand out to Sirius and Remus.

The two marauders and Lily gaped at how fast Harry had put his father down.

Harry walked over to Hermione and held his hand out, "I'll take those." he motioned to the coins, "I bet they would come down and that I could get James to try and fight me."

Hermione sulked, "Darn."

Sirius smirked at Remus, "Moony, I think we were set up."

Lily asked, "How did you know we would even come down?"

Harry shrugged, "Logic. You tried to get me to agree to spend Christmas with your family, I said no. So the next logical thing I thought you would do is badger me until we left. It was only a matter of time until you brought reinforcements." he pointed to James, Sirius and Remus, "When we realized that you were watching us as we ran I knew that you would try and talk to me again. I knew you wouldn't try and interrupt our run so it would happen during our katas, which was the perfect opening to get him to try and fight me. Easy really."

He ignored their dumbfounded looks and he and Hermione walked back up to the castle to shower and go to breakfast. The entire way back to the common room was spent laughing at what happened and talking about what they would do at the leaving feast that night.

Once at breakfast they sat down to eat and then immediately looked up as the same party they saw during their workout, came walking into the Great Hall. They heard Chris greet them and start talking about their plans for the holiday, but continued eating, not paying them any heed. They talked about some of the simple spells they had learned so far and the different applications that each spell could be used for.

As soon as breakfast was done, the headmaster came up to Harry and Hermione.

"Harry, could you come with me to my office for a few moments?"

Harry looked at Hermione and they both nodded, Harry said, "Sure Professor. Hermione, I'll meet you in the common room. I'm almost packed, just a few other things."

Hermione nodded. They both got up and headed out of the Great Hall, then went their separate ways. When Harry got to the Headmaster's office, he found the Potters, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Severus Snape waiting for him.

Harry sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "And this was turning out to be such a good looking day. Fine, I'm here professor, what do you need?"

Dumbledore sat down, ignoring the tone and said, "I asked you to come here so that maybe we can get past the problems you have with your family and spend the holidays with them."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I assume, then, that this does not deal with school, in any way, shape or form, then?"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Yes, you are correct."

Harry said, "Then I must ask that you refer to me as Lord Daniels." ignoring the looks of sadness and the scowl from Snape, Harry continued, "Now, what have I said that seems to be confusing you all?"

Lily asked, "What do you mean?"

Harry looked at her flatly and said, "Well, I have already told you that I don't want to spend the holidays with you and your family. I already have plans. I don't understand where you could have possibly gotten confused anywhere in that explanation, so enlighten me."

Dumbledore said, "But the Holidays are a time for family. You wouldn't want to impose on Miss Granger's family would you?"

Harry simply said, "Like I told Prof. Potter and Christopher Potter, if I hadn't been invited to the Granger's house for the holidays, I would have been in the Bahamas in a friend's bungalow."

Snape sneered, "Do you really think we would believe that ridiculous story?"

Harry looked at him and flicked his wand, "Nulla faucibus!"

Everyone watched as Snape's mouth disappeared from his face.

Dumbledore sighed, "I'm afraid that I will have to deduct 20 points from Ravenclaw for attacking a professor, Harry."

Harry smirked, "But _Sir_, you said this had nothing to do with school. Therefore I had every right to silence a man that was insulting me outside of school, since it seems like he can get away with anything during school, even murder. And that's Lord Daniels to you Mr. Dumbledore."

The other's gaped, Dumbledore, ignoring the murder comment and the 'Lord' comment, said, "Be that as it may, you till must respect your professors."

Harry said, "I know that you were having hearing problems at the time, so I'll say it again, I will respect people who show respect to me. He hasn't, he has repeatedly tried to gain access to my mind and has done nothing but insult me since we've met. Therefore, I will not respect him, I respect the position of professor and Potion's Master, but only the positions, not the man who has them. He must earn that respect on his own. Nor will I return his mouth until the end of this meeting. Now, is that all?"

Dumbledore was irritated inside, but said, "No, would you give us a reason why you are choosing to not spend the holidays with your rightful family?"

The room cooled drastically and Harry said coldly, "They are not my rightful family and do not insult my true family and friends again. The reason I am not spending time with them is that I don't know them."

James said, "But if you spend time with us you would get to know us."

Harry smiled, "Yes, but I do not wish to. I want to get to know the Grangers. They were kind to me on the platform and we talked a great deal before Hermione and I got on the train."

Lily choked back a sob and Harry sighed, rolled his eyes and continued, "Look, I'm not trying to hurt you, but I really don't want to spend time with people who neglected me and then decided they were going to take away the one thing that I found joy in and give it to my spoiled brother. All on the word of a man who things the sun shines out his own ass. Forget about me, don't try and change your minds about which child you want, halfway through their childhoods. Just assume that I died or ran away and never came back when I was five. Stick with Chris, he needs you a lot more than I ever have or will."

When he was done, he felt a sharp attack on his mind, unlike the previous times, this was a full out Legilimency attack. He knew it was Snape and so Harry, smirked at him. The others didn't understand what was going on though. Harry directed Snape's probe to a small labyrinth on one of the fake "planets" in his mind. All of a sudden Snape stiffened, then fall flat on his back, not moving, stunning everyone in the room.

Harry turned to Dumbledore, "I told you to keep him on a leash. He tried to force his way into my mind and met with one of my layers of defense. He needs 'Mandrake Draught' he may not look it, but his mind is petrified. Next time, I will let him go further in my mind and see what other surprises I have."

Dumbledore was flabbergasted, "What have you done?"

Harry rolled his eyes and swore a magical oath that he merely defended his mind against a Legilimency attack, then said, "He got far enough into my mind that he got to meet the reflected gaze of a basilisk. He is petrified within his own mind. His body is fine. Just feed him the potion and tell him to stay out of my head. Now, since it seems that this meeting has devolved into people attacking my mind, I am done. Headmaster, this does not pertain to school matters, I must request that you stay out of my personal life. It is none of your business where I spend my time outside of school, neither is it any business of Misters Potter, Lupin and Black or Prof. Potter. Also, I will be informing my head of house of this attempt at coercing me into going to somewhere against my wishes and the blatant disregard of the privacy of my mind. If anyone besides Snape attempts to gain access to my mind, or Miss Granger's, again, I will be forced to go to the board and the DMLE. If Snape does it again, I have a few nasty surprises that Ms. Cerina taught me, be sure to tell him that. Thank you."

With that he got up and left the office, leaving everyone in the office gobsmacked.

Remus finally said, "Well, I can honestly say that we have next to no chance of getting him to give us a chance now."

James said, "Why did he seem to be friendly with you two but coldly formal with the rest of us?"

Lily answered sadly, "I would think that it's because both of them lasted the longest before falling into the same routine that we all did. But I think that we may have ruined that. In the end he referred to you two just as formally as he did to everyone else."

Sirius asked, "How could he do something like that with his mind?" pointing to Snape.

Dumbledore said, "He said he was taught Battle-Based Occlumency by the Mind Master of the American Mages. I did not believe him, but now I understand that was a mistake."

X0X0X0X0

Harry stalked through the halls as he made his way towards the Ravenclaw common room. When he got there, the other Claws knew to stay away, just from the look on his face. Hermione looked up and saw him, she jumped up and pulled him back out of the common room. they walked put of the castle. Once they were outside, they walked to the lake and sat down in the snow.

Hermione asked, "What happened Harry?"

Harry took a calming breath, "They were trying to get me to go to the Potters' for the holidays. Towards the end, Snape attacked my mind. I wasn't the little probes he's sent before, it was a full out attack. I directed the attack so that he came across one of my traps. He is now petrified within his own mind. I just got tired of them trying to trap me into going along with what they want. They insulted my family and friends and in a way, insulted you and your family. Not so much as your family as you in particular. You are one of my best friends. Definitely the only one anywhere my own age. They tried to make me feel guilty about intruding on your own family's holiday plans." Hermione's face hardened, "I just... I just lost control and that hasn't happened in a while, normally I would have just thrown him out of my head. Usually I am in control of my emotions and today, they just pushed me farther then they should have."

Hermione asked, "Why do you think it happened?"

Harry said slowly, "I think it was because Sirius and Remus were with them. They were the last people to fall into the routine of ignoring me. Even then, they at least said hello, even if they ignored me the rest of the time they were there. I think, in the back of my mind, that I still cared for them. The old man knew it and tried to use it against me, and they went along with it."

Hermione hugged him and whispered, "They don't deserve it Harry. They don't deserve to have your affection after ignoring you like that. They don't even warrant your sadness. They were willing to try and use your affection against you. Forget them, I know it's hard but that is the only way that you will feel better."

Harry said emotionless, "They were the last people to care for me. They were the last links to my life before I left. Even though they didn't pay attention to me after the initial greeting, or gave me Christmas and Birthday presents, they still acknowledged my existence and that was what I wanted. Sirius would bring two presents, but Chris would just think the second was for him too and Sirius didn't want trouble with the rest of the Potters so he didn't say anything, eventually he stopped bringing me anything and got both of them for Chris. Remus didn't have a whole lot of money and could only afford one gift and so he got it for Chris. It never bothered me, they still hugged me and said hello. My own _parents_ didn't even realize that I wasn't at dinner half the time, and when they did, they just shrugged and had a family meal without me. I got used to it."

He took another calming breath, "I realized very early that I wouldn't have a real family. That I would always just be a stranger living at Potter Manor until I was of age. I realized it and accepted it. But then I learned that they were going to take the one thing that I had, the only thing that made me happy, my magic, they were going to take it and give that to my _brother_ as well. He had everything while I only had one thing, and they were going to take it and give it to him. Then they wouldn't even be merciful and send me away, they were going to keep me and make me watch as they used magic for every day things, reminding me of what I had and what was taken from me. So I left, but before I left, I said goodbye. Not to them, but to Sirius and Remus, now when I'm back they are using what I felt for them against me, to try and get me to go back to them, so they can do it all over again. I think that deep down, I still was a Potter, even if it was just a minuscule piece of me."

Hermione hugged him tighter and tears formed in her eyes, "Don't worry about it Harry. They can't get you. You and your real family made sure of that. I will make sure of that. But you can't keep bottling up your emotions. They will eat at you, you need to let them out, blow something up, hit something, do something with your pent up emotions before you lose control again and do something that you will regret."

Harry knew she was right. He sighed and stood up. Hermione stood with him and watched as he pulled out his wand. Harry's eyes focused all of his attention on the lake. He didn't utter a sound as he waved his wand around and a huge sphere of water, at least the size of Hagrid's hut, rose up out of the lake. It was crystal clear and Hermione thought it was beautiful. Harry waved his wand around more and watched as the sphere started to freeze, after about 30 seconds it was completely solid. Harry continued waved his wand like a conductor and Hermione watched as he shaved the ice off of the sphere until it was as smooth as glass. All of a sudden Harry stopped and it hung in the air, then Harry slashed his wand downward and a jet of flame erupted from his wand and he started to shape the ice as he wanted. He continued like this, melting parts of the ice away, then shaving it smooth again, for at least ten minutes. When he was done, he and Hermione stared at his finished work, a statue of a small boy sneaking around a wall. The boy looked remarkably like a younger Harry.

After he stared at it for a minute, Harry jabbed his wand towards the boy and the ice that had melted away, froze into ice again and together with all the ice shards at had been shaved away swirled around Harry and Hermione and shot toward the statue. Slowly the ice shards ate away at the statue and the shards from it added to the shards that were attacking the statue. After a minute there was nothing left of the statue and the shards turned to snow and drifted back to the ground.

Harry turned back to Hermione and smiled, "Thank you. I needed that."

Hermione smiled, "Any time. But what did you do?"

Harry said, "I showed myself that Harry Potter is dead and will never return. Harry Daniels doesn't know those people and should not care who they are. Harry Potter and Harry Daniels are completely different people. Harry Potter wasn't wanted or needed. Harry Daniels is wanted and needed by his friends and family. Harry Potter was desperate for attention because he was never given any. Harry Daniels doesn't care what others think of him, only his friends. I am not Harry Potter, he is dead, I am Harry Daniels."

Hermione smiled, "Good, because I like Harry Daniels, that Potter bloke sounds like he didn't have a very good life, you on the other hand seem to have had an extraordinary life. I mean, who learns different subjects all over the world? And has been to more places then most will ever see in a lifetime, even for a magical's lifetime."

Harry laughed and held his hand out to her, "Come on, I need to talk to Flitwick and we need to finish up what little homework we have so we can have fun over the break."

She took it, smiling at him and they turned turned to see Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Dumbledore, Potter and Aurors Potter and Black along with Remus Lupin and a good number of students.

Harry ignored their blank stares at what they just witnessed and said, "Ah, Prof. Flitwick, I was just coming to look for you. I need to report that again, Prof. Dumbledore has tried to interfere with my personal business, particularly my choice of holiday plans. I must request that Article 3, Section 4, Subsection C Paragraph 7 of the Hogwarts Charter be enacted."

Flitwick stared at him for a moment, puzzled, then asked, "Could you please refresh my memory, Mr. Daniels?"

Harry nodded, "Of Course. Article 3, Section 4, Subsection C Paragraph 7 states that if a student requests and has a credible reason for the request, their head of house may act in all areas as their headmaster. If I must speak about something school related that would normally be taken to the headmaster, I would come to you and you would then go the headmaster. If the headmaster must speak to me, he will have to go to you and bring the matter to you so that you can speak to me about it. It basically means that you are the middle man between Headmaster Dumbledore and myself. The only interaction we will have is in the Great Hall during meals and if we come across each other in the hall, and even then he may not speak to me about school matters and since he has no business with the Daniels family or the other families that I am head of, he really has no reason to talk to me at all. Furthermore, I have no affiliation with the Potters, besides going to the same classes with their son and living in the same building as Mrs. Potter. Unless I break a law or witness a crime, Aurors Potter and Black have no need to speak with me and Mister Lupin has no affiliation with me at all. The same goes for those that are in my family or protected by my family so I ask this for Miss Granger as well."

Flitwick sighed, he knew Albus would push Mr. Daniels to far one day and now it is here. What had happened in his office that made Harry so angry?

He replied, "According to the Charter of Hogwarts, I agree that this is a reasonable request. I accept on behalf for you, Mr. Daniels and you, Miss Granger. Any and all school related matters will go through me and I shall bring them to your attention."

Harry nodded, "Thank you professor. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to finish up that pesky History of Magic essay, then we will be done and able to relax over our break."

McGonagall asked, "You already finished your homework for Transfiguration?"

Hermione nodded, "Oh Yes, we finished that yesterday, along with Charms, Potions, Herbology and DADA. We didn't get any Astronomy homework."

Flitwick squeaked, "But most of that was assigned yesterday and the day before?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, we finished already. It's not like it was that hard, we usually finish our work the day it is assigned. Anyway, we should go so we can finish. Again thank you sir."

As he started to walk away, Flitwick asked, "Before you go, may I ask what were you doing? And where did you learn to cast spells like that? It was... for lack of better word, beautiful."

Harry turned to him, "Well, I was venting my frustration and anger at them," he pointed to the Potters, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore, all who looked sad, though Lily looked distraught and Dumbledore had a puzzled look on his face, "As to where I learned to do that, I took an art class in Paris. My teacher noticed that I tend to hold my emotions in and so he taught me this to vent and not hurt anyone. If I hadn't I would probably have blown up the common room because of them." again he pointed to those that were in the meeting.

Flitwick nodded and watched as Harry and Hermione walked away, people moving out of their way.

He turned to Dumbledore, "Headmaster, as Mr. Daniels has requested, I am to act as the liaison between yourself, Mr. Daniels and Miss Granger. Failure to do so will result in a report to the board. If it happens again, the board will be forced to put you on probation, a third time will result in your immediate termination as Headmaster. I don't know what you did Albus, but that young man is angry. I would not try it again. I don't understand why you feel the need to interfere with his personal life or the lives of the Potters, but it is my business if you interfere with one of my Ravens."

Turning to the Potters, Sirius and Remus, "You heard him, Harry Potter is dead. Leave Harry Daniels alone, you have no reason to talk with him. Lily, if you have reason to speak with either of them about school matters, then bring it to my attention and I will inform them."

With that he walked away with the other two heads of house, leaving the others gaping.

Sirius felt tears gather in his eyes, he felt as if he had lost something he didn't know he had before. He knew that trying to pressure Harry into spending time with them wasn't a good idea, but he didn't realize that it would lead to this. He slowly turned to walk away, not saying anything to the others. He made his way to the edge of the wards and apparated home, he needed to get drunk. He didn't think this Christmas would be as enjoyable as he thought. He was going to propose to his girlfriend, Emmeline Vance, an auror in her first year out of the academy, but he didn't know if it would happen now. He was to depressed.

Remus wasn't much better. He felt worse then he did after his transformations. The wolf howled in pain at losing one of it's pack, even if he had been missing. He didn't realize that Harry would push so hard if they tried to pressure him into getting to know them again. It would be lucky if he acknowledged their presence from now on. He turned and walked away, headed home to get drunk. He had a feeling that this Christmas wouldn't be as fun as the past years.

James and Lily were speechless. Their long lost son had just cut all ties to their family and told them, not 1 hour ago, that he didn't need them and never would. Now he claimed that Harry Potter was dead. Both realized that something had broken in their hearts that they didn't realize was there. There was something missing inside them that they didn't know was there. Lily's knees gave way and James had to catch her. Slowly they made their way back to their quarters. Not knowing how they could possibly fix this.

Dumbledore was angry, he had just tried to help a family get back together. Now he lost all contact with Harry and Hermione. Not that Miss Granger was important but she could have helped him get to Harry. The amount of power and control he had was astounding for someone his age. Could he have made a mistake? Could Chris not be the Boy-Who-Lived? If so, he needed to get control of Harry and guide him onto the path he, the Leader of the Light, set out for the Boy-Who-Lived, be it Chris or Harry. He started back towards the castle thinking of ways he could get back into Harry's good graces so that he could eventually guide him. But first, he needed to test them to figure out who was the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry? Or Chris?


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.**

Chapter 7

The train ride home was quite boring compared to the leaving feast. No one bothered their compartment and so Harry and Hermione rode the train back to London remembering the fun they had at the leaving feast.

_~ Flashback ~_

That night at the feast, nearly everyone was talking about what happened down at the lake. The students didn't know what to make of the spectacular display of magic. The adults had mixed feelings. Most of the staff felt that Harry had been justified in his request that Flitwick be the only contact he and Hermione had with the headmaster. But some others felt that he had been more than a bit harsh when it came to what he said to the Potters and their friends. James Potter had been given a place to sit during the meal since he decided to stay with Lily because of her despairing mood.

Through all of it, Harry and Hermione sat alone, in their own bubble, they ignored all that was going on around them. Some students, mainly the Slytherins, wondered where Prof. Snape was, but when they questioned the staff, they were simply given the excuse, "Prof. Snape is busy with prior engagements. He will see you all after the break." Most other students were more than happy with this, even a few Slytherins, though they did not voice it.

Throughout most of dinner, James and Lily Potter tried to catch Harry's eye, but he studiously ignored them. He knew he was being harsh, but he felt he was entitled to be. He realized that it would only be a matter of time before they started again. They would try again to get him to open up to them and he would have to do something similar again. He also knew that the rule he had enacted would only last until the end of the school year. There was a fairly good chance that Dumbledore would try and get that rule thrown out during the summer, but he hoped that he would have a plan by then.

Towards the end of the feast, right when dessert was being served, all the torches in the Great Hall flickered. Not many students noticed, but the entire staff did. Never had the torches gone out with people still in the hall. Suddenly, the entire hall was plunged into darkness. However, before anyone could panic, lights began to appear. After a few seconds they coalesced into a magnificent Stag, a large dog, that bore a striking resemblance to a grim and a giant of a wolf. The images gave off enough light that Harry saw James, Lily, Chris, Ron, Neville, Dumbledore and more than a few staff members all gasp and widen their eyes.

The entire hall was silent, then a roar could be heard and two giant cats dove at the three animals and two birds, a falcon and a Raven dived at them. The birds continued to dive at the original three while the giant cats circled them like prey. The cats stood side by side with the birds on either side of them and the cats roared and jumped towards them while the birds streaked towards them. The Stag, Dog, and Wolf took off towards the staff table and more than a few dove out of their way. The moment before they would have hit the table, the animals dissipated into smoke and the torches came back to life. With the light back in the Great hall, the smoke stayed, but was now black as shadows, as were the giant cats and two birds. The cats sat in the middle of the hall and the birds landed on their heads, the smoke that was the original three animals shimmered and formed words over the four animals, they read, "The House of Shadows".

All of a sudden, a voice sounded throughout the hall, "The time of the Marauders is past, it's time for the Shadows to flourish."

With that the animals and words exploded outwards and covered the whole staff in black liquid, when they tried to clean it off, they found that all their clothes were dyed black, along with their hair. After the initial shock, the Weasley Twins exploded off their seats, and started clapping, this led to other students clapping, however there were still a number of people not clapping, chief among them were the Potters, Dumbledore, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom, though most of the staff wasn't clapping, many had looks of terror and anxiety on their faces.

Eventually, the Twins, with Lee Jordan, went to the front of the Hall and got down on their knees and started bowing, while chanting, "You are Gods among men! Please teach us!" This went on for a little while before the headmaster sent the students to bed.

_~ End Flashback ~_

Harry and Hermione were about an hour away from London when their compartment door was thrown open. Chris Potter and Neville Longbottom were standing there.

"Well, Daniels, I hear you made quite the impression on my parents. Were you trying to guilt into them taking you back?" Sneered Chris.

Harry snorted, "I suggest you leave before I do something you will regret. I have no problem with you, as long as you leave Hermione and I alone. You don't and things can become... unpleasant very fast."

Chris sneered, "What, the little buck toothed know-it-all needs you to protect her?"

Harry smiled, "No she doesn't, though I am curious, you all keep calling her a 'know-it-all' do you not realize that she is many times smarter than you and probably knows more spells than all of you, including the red headed one, combined?"

Neville paled a bit, but stuck by his friend, while Chris sneered.

Chris said, "I doubt it, I learned from my father, the best auror in the Ministry. I know spells that you couldn't possibly know."

Both Harry and Hermione snorted and got back to their journals, dissecting spells that they had covered during the term.

Chris made to grab Harry's hands and found his wrist wrapped in an iron grip, Harry said, "It isn't nice to take other people's things."

Harry let go of his wrist right when Chris made to yank it out of his grip. The action sent Chris stumbling to the floor, on his butt. Harry and Hermione both ignored them and continued writing in the journals, though they did pull their wands out of their holsters.

Chris' face burned red and he took his wand out, as did Neville, though he did half heartily. The moment Chris sent a stream of spells towards Harry and Hermione, shields erupted around them and the spells were reflected back at the attacker. Towards the end, Harry sneaked in an extra spell that would activate at some point after Chris stepped off the train in London and at random intervals over the break.

He told Neville, "Longbottom, you better get him out of here before he tries something else and we get irritated."

Neville tried to help his friend, whom resembled a cross between some one with chicken pox and green hair that can't stop dancing, while the top half of their body was bound still. After that, they had another while of peace. They laughed at what had happened and talked about what they were going to do for the break.

After a half hour, their door was, once again, thrown open. This time it was Malfoy and his two body guards.

He sneered, "Well, if it isn't the unwanted Potty and the mudblood."

Harry looked him dead in the eye, "Malfoy, I know that the Wizengamot threw out that law I used earlier in the year. I know that you know it too, but what you don't seem to realize is that, with that law gone, I can get revenge and it will be completely legal as long as your aren't permanently hurt. I suggest that you and your two butt buddies leave."

Said "Butt Buddies" stared dumbly at him, not realizing what he had meant by the statement. Draco went red in the face of the insult.

"How dare you say that! I am a pureblood, your just a half-blood mutt and a mudblood."

Hermione interrupted, "Yes, yes, we all know that your mother is also your cousin and your father is also your uncle. We already know that, what's your point?"

Draco drew his wand, "How dare you insult my family! You filthy mudblood."

Hermione snorted and stage whispered to Harry, "Is that the only insult that he knows?"

Harry smirked, "I think so, but it isn't his fault, it's all the inbreeding."

Draco was now purple in the face and his wand tip was glowing. He shot a spell at Hermione and a shield appeared around her. Before he knew it, Draco was on the floor with boils appearing on his face. Harry, again, shot a spell that wouldn't take effect until they got to London and would last the entire break. Again the "Butt Buddies" dragged Malfoy out of the compartment. They only had another ten minutes until they reached the station so they got their things together, took their robes off and put them away. By the time they were completely done, they were pulling into the station and Harry shrank their trunks. They put them in their pockets and were two of the first to get off the train. They had their hair cycling through different colors and looked around for the Grangers.

Almost immediately they spotted them standing off to the side and they walk over to them, when they were halfway there, a shot of blue caught Harry's eye and he turned just in time to see Miku smiling at him. He darted for her and nearly tackled her to the ground.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in India!"

The Asian girl smiled and said, "I was, but you didn't think that I wouldn't see you for Christmas, did you? Jamel and the others couldn't make it, they were all finishing up some work and getting to their families, but they gave me their presents for you."

Harry smiled, "You didn't have to do that. But thank you. Tell them that I will send Gwen with their presents when I get them. Now, come on, let me introduce you to the Grangers."

When they got to the three Grangers, Miku noticed Hermione's hair.

She smirked and said, "Well, I guess Harry taught you that charm huh?"

Hermione smiled, "Yeah, we've been doing it ever since. It's funny to watch people's faces when they realize it changes colors." she laughed.

Her parents looked amazed at the changes in Hermione. Before, she was never this outspoken and happy.

Harry smiled and said, "Miku, this is Dr.s Daniel and Emmaline Granger, and their daughter, one of my best friends, Hermione Granger. Grangers, this is my oldest friend, Miku Sato."

Miku smiled and shook their hands, Dan Granger said, "Please, call us Dan and Emma."

Miku smiled and nodded, then turned to Hermione and said, "I've heard a lot about you in Harry's letters, he just talks about you and the pranks you've pulled at school. Along with the things you are doing with your Journals. Though, mainly you."

Harry blushed and said, "Miku! Keep it up and I'll tell a certain Mike in the US about something."

Miku scowled playfully at Harry and dropped the subject. As they were moving away from the Platform, they saw the elder Potters, Sirius and Remus nearby, looking at Harry sadly. He and Hermione stared blankly at them, then turned away. Miku and the Elder Grangers saw it and wondered about it, Miku knew a little. She knew that they were his old family and they had been pestering him, but that was all. She recognized his "Occlumency Mask" when she saw it, so she knew it was worse then he had let on. Not one minute later, there was a commotion on the Platform, they all turned to see Chris Potter had his shoes transfigured into skates and his legs started to spasm, he was sent sprawling on the ground. Harry snorted and turned away while Hermione giggled and had to hide them in his shoulder. The Grangers were astounded and Miku chuckled.

Chris shouted, "DANIELS!"

Harry put an innocent look on his face and turned to look at him, "Yes, do you need a hand getting up Potter?"

Chris snarled and tried to lung at him, only to be sent to the ground again. By this point more than a few people were laughing.

Harry looked down at him and said, "Well, there's your problem, you have wheels stuck to the bottom of your shoes."

Chris snarled and said, "I know you had something to do with this. You're in trouble now, your aren't allowed to do magic outside school."

Harry smirked, "Would you like your father to look at my wand? Excluding the fact that I CAN in fact use magic outside of school. I'm emancipated, remember?"

He pulled it out and smiled as innocently as possible and handed it to James. He checked it and handed it back to Harry.

"There is nothing on it that has anything to do with spells used on your shoes and legs, son. Just a shield charm."

Harry smiled and took his wand back. Just as he turned back to the Grangers there was another commotion, a loud, high pitched screaming of what sounded like a little girl.

Again everyone heard whoever it was scream, "DANIELS! GRANGER!"

Everyone on the platform turned to look at the Malfoy family as Draco Malfoy screamed and his voice was as high as a little girl's. Again people started laughing as Draco marched over to them and made to take a swing at Hermione. People gasped as his fist started to close in on her face and then again as she pushed his hand out of the way and twisted it around his back, then used his momentum to kick out his legs and he landed on the ground. The adult Potters, Sirius and Remus recognized it as the same move Harry used on James.

Hermione said, sweetly, "Was there something you would like to say, Malfoy?"

Malfoy just screamed in a high voice, "Let me go you filthy mudblo-"

Harry interrupted and said, "Draco, do you not remember what happened last time you insulted us? And again, do we have to remind you about the train conversation."

Lucius stepped in and said, "I demand that you reverse what you did to my son."

Again, Harry and Hermione smiled and handed their wands to James.

He tested them and said, "They have nothing to do with this, the last spells they cast were standard shield spells."

Draco snarled, though it sounded like a little girl whining, "I know they had something to do with this!"

Harry smirked, "Well, Draco, I didn't realize you thought so highly of us. That you believe we can do wandless magic, something that even you vaunted _purebloods _can't do. It warms me up."

Again Hermione was left to giggle into his shoulder as he chuckled, Miku was hanging onto Harry because she was laughing so much. Sirius, Remus, James and even Lily were impressed that Harry and Hermione were able to do something like that without being caught. It was obvious to everyone with a brain that they were responsible. They were even more surprised with the "Slytherin" response he gave.

Realizing that his son would just embarrass them more, the elder Malfoys collected him and apparated home. Once it was all over, the people on the Platform started to leave.

Harry turned back to the Potter Party and said, "Well, Aurors Potter, Black, Mister Lupin, Prof Potter, clumsy Potter, have a good Holiday. I'll probably see you again when we go back to the castle."

With that, he turned and motioned for the Grangers and Miku to follow. Miku and the Grangers saw the sadness in James' and Lily's eyes, along with Sirius' and Remus' eyes. No one could miss the contempt in Chris Potter's eyes.

Once outside, the Grangers looked at Hermione and Harry questioningly, Harry shrugged and said, "We aren't admitting anything, but if we were responsible, it would be because those two seem to think they can throw their titles at us and think they are better then us. Just because they are the Boy-Who-Lived and the heir of the Malfoy family. We'll explain more at your house, because I know Mr. and Mrs. Sato, and they wouldn't like it if Miku was late and they live in Tokyo. So she has to go."

Miku nodded, "He's right, my parents are expecting me in," she checked her watch, "10 minutes. So I need to go, I just came to see Harry, tell him to have a good holiday and give him his presents."

She handed him a handful of presents and hugged him tight , "It was good to see you Harry, I'll see you next summer," turning to Hermione, "Keep him in line and help him when he needs it. Sometimes, that means knocking some sense into him when he is acting dumb."

Ignoring Harry's mock outraged face, Hermione smiled and said, "Of course. It was great meeting you."

Miku smiled and said, "I know you will, it was nice meeting you too." turning to the elder Grangers, "It was very nice meeting you, thank you for letting Harry stay with you for the holidays. If he wasn't he would probably be on some beach somewhere."

Harry laughed, "I would, Jamel invited me to stay in his bungalow in the Bahamas."

Miku scowled and said, "I'll have to have a talk with him."

Harry laughed and said goodbye. From there, Harry and the three Grangers got in their car and left for home. During the ride to the Grangers home in Crawley, the two kids told the adults about their year so far. The Grangers were amazed at what their daughter was learning. They learned how she and Harry got along in and around the castle and what they did in their spare time.

When they got home they all walked into the house and Harry and Hermione felt themselves pass through the wards. Just by feeling the crackle of magic, they knew that the wards around the house were very good. Once inside Hermione gave Harry the tour and then showed him to the guest room, across the hall from her own room. They enlarged their trunks and Hermione started to collect her clothes and put them away. Harry set his journals on the desk that was in the room and brought out an extra large stand and put it by the window. Almost as soon as he opened it, Hedwig flew in and landed on the perch. He smiled and then walked out in search of Hermione. When he got to her room, he knocked on the door frame and she smiled and motioned him in.

Harry said, "You have a nice room."

He looked around and took in the light blue on the walls and saw that she had 3 medium sized book shelves lining one wall. All three of them were completely full.

He continued, "I wouldn't expect anything different then this Mione."

She smiled and blushed at the nickname, "Thank you Harry. I painted it a year before I got my letter to Hogwarts. So are you ready to go down and explain to my parents how you've corrupted their daughter?"

Harry smiled, "Yup. Lets go, I could tell that they were anxious for answers in the car."

Hermione smirked and closed her trunk and they made their way downstairs. Once they were ready, all four of them sat down at the dinner table to talk.

Dan started it off by asking, "What was going on at the station? Hermione, you've never acted that way."

Harry said, "Hermione had nothing to do with what happened to them. They tried to attack us on the train and we fought them off. During the middle of it, I cast a spell that was time-delayed. It went off on the station because that was when the spell was suppose to act. Chris and Neville tried to intimidate us on the train, though it was more Chris, Neville just sat back. Malfoy and two of his friends did the same thing a while later. At school they are nothing but bullies. So, I prank them. Along the way, Hermione started to join me and now we are pranksters at school."

Emma said, "You aren't getting into trouble are you? And what was with giving your wand to that man?"

Hermione said, "No, we are the top two students in our year right now. We are evenly tied in some classes, I'm slightly better in Charms, while Harry is slightly better in Defense. We are about equal in Transfiguration, Astronomy and Herbology. Potions is different because the teacher is not fair to anyone not in his own house. As to who that man was, his name is James Potter, he's an auror, a magical police man. Harry gave him his wand so that James could check the last spells cast by it. Probably because he suspected Harry of using magic outside school. Regardless of his emancipated status."

Dan said, "What do you mean, and if you are doing all of that, how do you have time to pull pranks? And how did you cast that spell on them if it didn't show up on your wand?"

Harry answered, "Not many people in Britain believe wandless magic is possible, at least not for the more complex spells. That is a lie, most other magical cultures use wandless magic all the time, they just use wands because it is simpler for some and for some spells it makes it easier to cast because of precision and using them requires less concentration. As for the teacher, we mean, that Snape, the Potion's Professor, is a immature child in a man's body. He and my biological father had some sort of feud going on during their school years and he has passed on his hatred of him to Chris and I. I also think it has something to do with my biological mother, if any of the looks that I've seen indicate anything. And as to the time, well, do you remember at the station when I told Hermione that I would teacher how to have perfect recall?"

Dan and Emma nodded and Harry continued, "Well, what I did was make a copy of the knowledge of how to do it, out of my mind and put it directly in hers. She knew how to practice Occlumency before we even got to the castle. It helps us remember everything so there is no need to study."

Emma nodded, "So, concerning this Order-"

Harry interrupted her and waved his hand around the room, all four occupants felt a rush of what felt like static electricity in the room.

Harry apologized and explained, Emma nodded and started again, "Concerning this Order, what exactly has been going on?"

Harry started, "Well, just like Rachelle and Anthony told you, it is an order that is only interested in equality for all magical beings and preserving the peace. We helped during the last war, though no one would know it. We work behind the scenes because it is easier than working in the open. It is completely voluntary and she can leave whenever she wishes. We have set up a completely new identity for her, which is Miranda Grey." Dan smiled at the name, it was his mother's, Harry continued, "Everyone in the Order gets a second identity, and it is all completely legal. She is now both Hermione Granger and Miranda Grey. She has citizenship in nearly every country in the world, under both identities and she has many skills already."

Dan said, "Well, what is your other identity, and what other skills does she have? Also, what other things does this Order do? You said they fought in a war. How so, if they are just mainly in politics?"

Harry answered, "My other identity is Alexander Shadow. As to what she knows, well, she already knows enough magic to pass most of the Mastery qualifications. She knows most martial arts and other military type fighting styles. She can protect her mind better then anyone I've seen besides myself and Ms Cerina, even then, it is just a matter of time before she is better than me. As for what other things the Order does, well, we do a lot of other things. We have some people that are spies within the government, to figure out if there is something that we should know about, some are body guards. Some, a very small number, do the more dirty work of the Order. If there are rouge wizards or other magical creatures that are creating havoc, they are sent out to take care of it, if the countries' government can't or won't. Though, we try and just incapacitate them and hand them over to a government for them to deal with. During the war, Order members tried to do their best to protect people when they could, but we have very few members in Britain because of the horribly corrupt government they have. With the corruption so high, it's very hard to do anything."

Dan let out a long breath, "So this Order is basically a mix of politicians, body guards, soldiers and assassins?"

Harry winced at the tone, "More or less. Our main goal is peace in the magical world, that way, if we ever decide to reveal ourselves, mundane's won't fear us. We help keep conflict down as much as possible. And again, everything is voluntary, they won't kick someone out just because they refused to do something they don't wish to. I don't even have a mission, technically speaking, while I'm here in Britain. They just asked me to see if I could talk to some of the students and make them see that treating other magical creatures the way they are, is not the way and that it will come back to bite them later."

Emma said in a calmer tone, "Is there anything else that we should know about Hermione?"

Harry scratched his head, "Not really, she speaks most languages, the only other thing is that she will eventually not need as much sleep as before. The Occlumency and bonding with her magical core will reduce the required amount of sleep, depending on how powerful she is. She is about at where I was a year ago, which is considerable because she was where I was at when I was six, on the train. She has been bonding with her core every other night to strengthen it and her connection to it. That is how we do wandless magic. It is like raising your arm, completely instinctual, all about our will. If we want something done, we will our magic to do it and if we are powerful enough, it will happen. The only other thing that I can think of is that she will mature, physically, a bit faster. I'm 11 years old, 15 years if you count time dilation, but physically I am about a year ahead. So I have the body of an almost 13 year old. Which is fine because some children mature faster then others in the magical world. It has to do with your core. Your body has to be able to handle a certain amount of magic, so it matures a bit faster. Most, if not all magicals in Britain don't bond with their cores so they stay the same size, they mature normally, but others who bond with their cores regularly, mature slightly faster. One thing that might interest you is that I am still completing work for my mundane education during the summer. I will be starting my third year in High school this summer. This way, after Hogwarts I can still get a job in the normal world too. That is how it is done in America as well. I'll get you the information from the Order and Hermione can do the same this summer."

Dan nodded his thanks and asked, "Okay, I can understand that, but why can't British Magicals perform wandless magic?"

Hermione explained, "Because the purebloods in power found it harder to do over time and didn't like that the 1st generations could do it easier so they banned it and said it was impossible to do and that only the most powerful magicals could do it. Then they started saying that anyone that can do it and isn't powerful like Dumbledore is, most likely using dark rituals and dark magic to get the ability."

Harry snorted, "Dumbledore may be one of the more powerful magicals in Britain, but has he nothing on magicals elsewhere in the world. As of right now, he is the third most powerful wizard in Britain."

Hermione questioned him, "I thought he was the most powerful wizard in Britain, who are the others?"

Harry smiled, "They are currently in this room. Both of our cores are at least half again the size of Dumbledore's, closer to double the size of his, and that's in his prime. As he gets older it will slowly start to shrink, expending more magic to extend his life. Voldemort's core was only a bit more powerful, but Dumbledore has practice and control, whereas Voldemort had only brute force. Now, back to the wandless magic, the ministry can track magic by charms put on wands, but they can't track wandless magic, that is another reason for banning it. It's also a way to give pureblood children an edge over the 1st generation children. The way they track accidental is that it gives off uncontrollable bursts of magic and they CAN track that. But any magic performed in a magically saturated area, like some one's home, cannot be tracked."

Emma said, "It sounds as if this world is very prejudiced."

Harry nodded, "It is, at least in Britain. This is the last place the purebloods hold power. They think that because their great to 'n'th grandparents were magicals it makes them better then everyone else. I'm considered a half-blood because my father is pureblood and my mother is a 1st generation. Malfoy has been giving us problems ever since the start of the term. He found out who I am, then insulted Hermione and told me that I shouldn't hang out with 'mudbloods'. It's a horrible word that most people in the world don't use. It basically is say that the person has dirty blood and they aren't fit to use magic. It would be like a white person calling a black person the 'N' word. Luckily, I had you sign those papers which put Hermione under my protection. I may be a half-blood but I am also the head of 6 Noble and Most Ancient families. They will abide by their own laws which I used against them. When Malfoy insulted Hermione and I twice in one week, I mailed off a letter to his father and he was forced to pay my family G1,500. Given that the Galleon to Pound ratio is 1:5 they were forced to pay 7,500 pounds." he smirked at their open mouths.

Dan finally closed his mouth then asked, "I assume he stopped after that?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes he got a letter from his father that shouted at him in the middle of the Great Hall to not come near us. Though sadly, that law was just thrown out recently so we are forced to get back at them whenever we can, hence the pranks. During classes, we take notes like we normally would and we also take the spell apart and think of new ways we can make it better. We also both have journals that list every 'everyday' common spell we know and different ways we can use them and another journal to list spell chains that we can use in a duel. The knowledge isn't always in our minds. It is only there when we consciously call on it. Otherwise we just learn it like normal and because of the way we learned some of the subjects we still have to read the books and make sure that we understand everything. Oh! And I can turn into a panther and a black raven. Though once I study other animals, I can turn into them as well, just not keep the senses when I am me again. I only get the panther and raven senses."

Emma and Dan gaped, then her father said, "How?"

Harry laughed, "Well, it's one of the hardest things to do in Transfiguration. Every person has an inner animal, not everyone can talk with them, but the ones that can and understand the animal and therefore themselves, can turn into that animal. Hermione is almost done with her Raven, the Panther is different because it isn't her true animal so it will take a bit longer. She just has to try the transformation all at once and keep in control of both her mind and the transformation at the same time. She can already talk with her animal, it is just that it is hard to concentrate on keeping the transformation and also your human mind, at least at first. I am a Peregrine Falcon and a Panther. Though, I'm not sure it is a true Panther, some in the Order argue that it is a cross between a Jaguar and a Tiger."

Emma was amazed, "Can we- can we see it?"

Harry smiled and shifted into his Panther form. The three Grangers gasped at him, Hermione hadn't seen this form because Harry was being careful at school. A few minutes later he shifted back to human, then into his falcon form. Again the two adult Grangers were awed by the display.

After Harry changed back he said, "After Hermione completes the transformation and can stay in it, she will gain the attributes of the animal. For me I gained the falcon's eye sight, my ability in the air to a degree, not much because I was already very good on a broom, I also gained the cat's night vision if I choose to use it, it's speed and a bit of it's strength, not to mention enhanced hearing, balance, reflexes and smell. But I can partially transform and gain even more strength and speed. When I do, I can also follow a person's scent almost anywhere and hear people from another room through normally thick walls. I don't look like the cat but I am nearly as fast and strong as it is. But it's very hard to maintain and go about my normal day. It's a bit like I'm holding it at bay. The same with the bird but I only sharpen my eyesight. My record is seeing about 5 ½ miles away or so."

The adults gaped and Hermione smiled. They continued talking for a bit more, they ordered take out for dinner. After they were done talking about the Order, they started talking about what they had been doing during school. Hermione demonstrated some of the magic, wandless of course. Harry informed them that he would have to go to Diagon Alley the next day and they agreed that they would go as a family. Hermione reasoned that, this way, they could get their holiday shopping out of the way, at least the magical side of things.

The following morning, everyone got up around 8 in the morning and had a leisurely breakfast. They eventually made it The Leaky Cauldron around 11 o'clock. As they entered, Tom immediately recognized Harry.

He shouted, "Hello Harry! Have a good first term?"

Harry smiled, "Hey Tom. It was nice, a bit slow though. I already know most of what they taught, but I'm hoping that it will pick up after the holidays. Let me introduce my friends. This," he motioned to Hermione, "Is my best friend, Hermione Granger and these," he motioned to the elder Grangers, "Are her parents, Dr.s Daniel and Emmaline Granger. They were kind enough to have me over for the holidays. How's business been?"

Tom smiled and said hello to the Grangers, then replied, "Business has been usual. It always is. It was nice seeing you again Harry, haven't had many people to talk to during my off time. I also tried what you said about the _Quibbler_. You were right, much better than what the _Prophet_ writes. Anyway, I'll let you all get on with your business. Don't be a stranger Harry. It was nice meeting you, Hermione, Dr.s Granger. Take care of him at Hogwarts Miss."

Hermione smiled, "Don't worry, I will." she latched onto Harry's arm and pulled him forward.

As they made their way up to Gringotts Harry explained how he knew Tom and explained a bit about his summer, staying in Diagon Alley. Eventually they made it inside the bank and saw that there seemed to be many people out shopping today. There were lines at all the teller stations.

Harry turned to the Grangers and said, "Stay here, I'll be right back."

With that he walked away. They watched as he stood to one of the few "Closed" stations and spoke with the Goblin sitting there. They watched as Harry bowed and then spoke to the creature. Almost immediately, the goblin jumped off his chair and followed Harry back to the Grangers. Deciding to follow Harry's lead, all three bowed to the goblin when he and Harry got to them. They assumed they did the right thing when they watched Harry smile and spoke to the small being in a guttural, harsh language. Oddly enough, at least the elder Grangers thought, Hermione seemed to understand what was being said.

The goblin spoke, "I am Senior Teller Ironclaw. Please follow me to Director Rangok's office."

They fell in line behind the goblin and noticed all the people within earshot, followed them as they walked. Some shocked and some looked slightly angry. All three Grangers assumed that they were wondering why two muggles and two students got priority over them.

Once inside a lush office, the goblin, Ironclaw, and Harry both bowed to the slightly taller goblin behind the desk. Again, following Harry's lead, the three Grangers bowed to the goblin. Ironclaw nodded to Harry and the three Grangers and walked out of the office.

Harry introduced the Grangers to Director Ragnok and then said to the Grangers, "Mr and Mrs. Granger, Hermione, this is Ragnok, Director of Gringotts Bank, London and War Chief of the Goblin Nation in Europe and most of Asia."

The Grangers were surprised at how much power this one... person had and that they were meeting him. They greeted him and he smiled in return, though they personally thought it was disconcerting, the way he smiled.

Harry nodded, "Anyway, Ragnok is the one who helped me get out of the country when I needed to." turning to the Goblin, "The reason I am here is that I need to go down to one of my vaults and also, I would like Hermione to get an inheritance test done."

At Hermione's questioning look, Harry explained, "When I was being sorted the hat said something to me and I just have a suspicion. Also, the reason that we are here, instead of a normal teller is because anyone who has a vault before the 10th vault sees the bank Director instead of anyone else. Since not many people have access to any of those vaults and I have access to four of them, I have to come here. None of the other tellers are allowed to help me."

Ragnok nodded, "He is correct. One of his vaults has a large portion of the British Wizarding economy so only I may deal with him." turning to Harry, "So, Mr. Daniels, how have you been? Has your old _family_ try anything?"

Harry shrugged, "Yeah, but right before we left for the holidays, I set them straight. Though, the rule that I used might be thrown out by next year, but it has gotten the old man off our backs until the end of the school year. Anyway, I just want to get a few things from my vaults. But could we do the inheritance test first? This way, if I'm right, we only have to go down there once."

Ragnok agreed and pressed a rune on his desk and a second later another goblin came in carrying a large piece of parchment and a red quill. Ragnok explained what she needed to do and she signed her name. A few seconds later, a few names appeared on the parchment, under her name.

Ragnok looked at the parchment and said, "Well, it looks like I will have to be seeing you as well from now on. You have access to Vaults 2, 4, 5, 118 and 543. Vault 2 belonged to Morgana Le Fay. She was in many ways, Merlin's opposite. Though, later in life, she tried to help the other magical species, but could never get rid of being branded a dark witch. It is all nonsense, the burgeoning wizard's council just didn't like the fact that she was a witch and that she was more powerful than they were and that she advocated for creature's rights, her past was against her. Anyway, vault 4 is the Ravenclaw vault. It seems that you are related to her through many generations of squibs, making you the heir by blood and magic. Vault 5 is the Hufflepuff vault, you are the heir by magic. Pertaining to vault 118, you have the same rights as Mr. Daniels. You don't own it, but you are as good as the owners, you may do everything with it, except remove it from this bank. Vault 543 is the Trisfoum family vault. Like the Daniels family," motioning at Harry, "This family died during the first World War. I don't know how they died, just that they died during that time. You are indirectly related to the family about 7 generations back, but because the whole family has died out, you are the sole heir."

The Grangers were shocked, as was Harry. Hermione just sat in the chair and slowly reached for Harry's hand. He held her hand in comfort.

After a few moments, Hermione finally came back to herself and said, "Um, what does that mean?"

Harry smiled, "It doesn't mean anything. You are still you, you just know more about your distant family and have some more money."

Ragnok chuckled, "It is a bit more than that. But in essence, he is correct. On the money aspect, Vault 2 has the same limitations as Vault 1 you can only draw a certain amount out of that account each year because it is a large portion of the economy. I believe the amount is G200,000, the same amount as Mr. Daniels. The total amount of that vault is 5 million galleons and change. The Ravenclaw vault is around G750,000 and change. The same goes for the Hufflepuff Vault, in fact all the founders' vaults have that much, they put their money together and split it four ways, they said it would create more equality between them and this way, no one person could have more say over another in dealings with the school. Vault 118 is worth about G250,000, not as rich as the others, but still a respectable amount, like I told Mr. Daniels, they are more land rich than money rich. Finally, the Trisfoum vault is worth about 1.5 million galleons."

All four humans were gobsmacked. Harry thought Hermione might be an heir but he had no idea that they would find all this out. The Grangers were ready to feint.

Dan had a thought, "What is the exchange rate of Galleons to Pounds?"

Ragnok smirked, "It is 1:5."

Wondering he was joking, he asked, "Is that pounds to galleons?"

Harry smirked, "No that is galleons to pounds."

At this, both adult Grangers passed out. Hermione was near catatonic, just sitting there, holding Harry's hand. Harry was getting a bit worried about her.

After a few moments, he looked at Ragnok and said, "Excuse me for a moment."

Rangok nodded and started going through the paperwork for Hermione's accounts.

Harry bent down in front of Hermione and cupped her face in his hands and said, "Hermione, it doesn't matter. Don't think about it much, it only means that you have a bit more money then most people. No one will treat you differently, they don't with me. That is why I don't tell them which vaults I have access to. Don't let what others think bother you."

When she didn't say anything for another few moments, Harry sighed and leaned in and lightly kissed her on the lips. After a moment, she blinked and came back to herself. When she realized what Harry was doing she responded, tentatively. When he pulled away, she blushed spectacularly.

Harry smirked with a small blush of his own, "Are you with us again?"

Hermione nodded, somewhat shyly, "Why did you do that?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, for one, I wanted to, for another, it was the only other way I could think to get you to come back. I figured that slapping you would not have been a smart idea and mentioning books would probably get me a slap, so I kissed you."

Hermione looked down and smiled, "Oh."

Harry said, seriously, "Don't worry about having more money then you thought. It only means what you want it to. I won't treat you any differently, you don't treat me differently and have more than that. If it really makes you feel differently, then don't tell anyone. It is no one's business but your own. Haven't you noticed at school, when someone asks me how much money I have, I don't exactly answer them. When Flitwick asked, I only said that I have my accounts set up for 'High-Risk, High-Gain'. I never told him how much I am worth. I gave out enough information to let others think they know."

Hermione nodded her agreement and together with Harry, they woke her parents back up. Once that was done, Hermione sat back down, but in the same chair as Harry, who wrapped his arm around her. Emma and Dan noticed this but didn't say anything.

Hermione finally said, "Okay, Ragnok, um, could I do what Harry did? Make my accounts 'High-Risk, High-Gain'? All except the Trisfoum account."

Ragnok nodded, "We can do that. The Le Fay vault has been on 'Low-Risk, Moderate-Gain' for a while, the others have been on 'Low-Risk, Low-Gain'."

Hermione nodded, "You can put the Trisfoum account on Low-Risk, Moderate-Gain'."

Harry nodded, "Could you do the same with the Daniels vault?"

Ragnok nodded. The elder Grangers' heads were spinning.

Dan said, "Wait, how good are the investment deals?"

Harry said, "Mr. Granger, the goblins know three things above all others. Fighting, Metal-working and Money. They know both the magical market and the muggle stock market like no one else does."

Ragnok nodded, "That is correct, but what he failed to say is that if an investor fails and loses a certain amount of gold from one account, they are demoted to dragon duty. Which is one of the most dangerous jobs that we have, 3 out of 5 goblins will not live past a year."

Harry continued, "They can predict how the market will change by what has happened within the company, what is going on in the world and other variables. They are very good with investments. They take care of me and have made me about G900,000 in the 6 years I've had my accounts."

Dan was more than surprised, "Okay, I agree that is very impressive."

Harry and Ragnok smiled, Hermione then said, "What is the investor's cut?"

Ragnok smiled, "The account manager makes 2% of whatever the account makes."

Hermione said, "Make it 5%."

Harry laughed and Ragnok smirked, "That is what Mr. Daniels said when he was told that. I will tell you what I told him, I will not take more than 4%. It is more than adequate and it is not honorable to take anymore from a child."

Hermione nodded her agreement. Harry smirked at the Grangers and then leaned down in Hermione ear and whispered something. The others watched as her eyes lit up and she was nearly bouncing in her seat.

She said, excitedly, "Okay, can we go down to the vaults now?"

At their questioning glance, Harry mouthed, "Books" to the elder Grangers and they laughed. After a few minutes another goblin came in and escorted them to a cart. About 5 minutes later, Dan looked slightly sick and Emma was wide eyed and smiling like a loon. Hermione was the same as her mother and Harry was just laughing at everyone's expressions. The goblin showed them to Harry's vaults first. Harry had argued that she could spend as much time in hers as she wanted to, he knew what he wanted to get out of his.

Once at the Slytherin vault, Harry grabbed books on potions and parselmagic and Salazar's Journal, then proceeded to put them on an empty bookcase and waved his hand over the bookcase. Then they went Gryffindor vault and he grabbed books on Transfiguration and Conjuration and Godric's Journal and again, put the books he chose on an empty bookcase then waved his hand over it. Finally they went to Vault 1 and he went in, giving the Grangers permission to enter like had for the previous vaults. He made his way to the bookcases and grabbed a few on magical theory and magic of different species, then turned Hermione loose. After about 10 minutes she had nearly 15 books. Harry smiled and grabbed them, then put all of the books yet another empty bookcase, though this book case is much bigger than the previous two, and then walked over to the pedestal next to it and the book sitting on it glowed and he picked it up.

After they were done, Harry turned to Hermione and said, "Okay, I am done in this section, we can go see your vaults now."

Hermione squealed and then ran to Vault 2, not asking what Harry had done in his vaults. After opening it, the Grangers were struck dumb at the amount of gold that was sitting in the vault. Hermione quickly got over it, giving permission to her parents and Harry to enter the vault and ran over to the large bookcase off to the side. She started going through them and placing them in a pile for her to take. After 10 minutes, she had about 20 books to take and Harry stopped her.

He explained, "You can't take the whole thing. But you can use that over there," he pointed to a massive empty bookcase that was easily the size of 3 normal bookcases, with a pedestal next to it with book on it, the same setup that was in all of his own vaults, "It is a 'ManyBook', whatever books you want, place in the empty bookcase and it will transfer the words and information to to the Manybook. That was what I did with the other books. When I waved my hand over the cases, I linked them so that I only need to have one Manybook for all three cases."

Hermione went slack-jawed, then started piling books into the original pile and after nearly 15 minutes she had enough books to fill the bookcase.

She turned to Harry, "Is there a way that we could link our Manybooks together so that I could read what is in yours and you could do the same?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, but they can only take as much as can fit in the bookcase. So you would need to leave some books to be read at another time." at her scowl he laughed, "Don't worry, I have some of the books in my Vault that you have in that pile."

They sorted through the books that she had and then put them in the case, leaving room for books from her other vaults. Harry showed Hermione what she had to do to link the bookcases and then she picked up her own Manybook and smiled at Harry. From there they repeated the process in the Ravenclaw vault with Runes, Arithmancy and her Diary and then the Hufflepuff vault with Healing, Herbology, Potions and her Diary. Finally they went to the Shadow vault. Harry again put a few books on a Manybook bookcase and then led Hermione over to a suit of black basilisk armor. He grabbed one and then a Bo staff. He told her that he had the same, he figured she could train with the daggers, throwing knives and sword over the summer. After that they left and made their way to the Trisfoum vault. There wasn't much in the vault, except money, some books on Runes and Arithmancy and a family grimoire. Harry was excited about some of the books on Runes while Hermione was excited about the Arithmancy.

From there they made their way back up to Ragnok's office and he gave Hermione and her parents money pouches similar to what Harry had, along with documents about what she owned.

Dan said, "You should think about using a debit card."

Ragnok replied, "Could you explain that?"

Harry explained, "It is a non-magical thing. It is a piece of plastic with a black strip across the back of it and it allows people to purchase things without carrying around the money. It takes it right out of their bank account. Maybe the magical world could do something similar."

At Ragnok's intrigued look, Dan continued, "They even have a small charge fee. It has to be easier than carrying around all the money and counting out each galleon."

Ragnok smiled, "I like it, I will talk with the appropriate people. As thanks, if it is brought into effect, both of your families will not have a charge fee. Now, Harry, you know your way out. On behalf of Gringotts, have a good holiday."

Harry got up, bowed and said, "May your wealth increase and your enemies be crushed."

The Grangers looked at him oddly but followed his example. Soon they were out of the bank and walking around Diagon Alley. First they stopped at Madam Malkins, where Harry got the Grangers day robes with the Daniels family crest on them. He explained, "So that people know that you are protectorates of my family." After that, they split up, the girls went one way and the boys, another. They shopped for each other and then switched an hour later to buy for the person they were with. With each parent, Harry was questioned about his relationship with Hermione.

Harry answered Dan's question, "She is my best friend. Right now, that's all we are. Do I like her? Yes, I think she is smart, beautiful and brave. The reason we are as close as we are is because we only really have each other at school. We have a few friends in our own house, Padma, Su Li, Terry and Lisa but they are all focused on their grades. They are trying to be the perfect Ravenclaw, only worried about their work. We don't, we always get our work done the day that it is assigned or the day after so we have more free time than the others. We don't really have friends in Gryffindor except the Weasley twins. In Hufflepuff, the students usually are very close to just their housemates. In Slytherin there is only Blaise, Daphne and Tracey. The other students just try and fit in with their houses so they don't make a lot of friends outside their house. Really, we only have each other at school right now."

Emma asked Hermione, "So what is going on with you and Harry?"

Hermione blushed and smiled, "Nothing, we're just friends."

At her mother's disbelieving look Hermione relented, "Fine. We are really good friends. We don't really hang out with other people. We only really hang out with three Slytherins and even then, only rarely. I like him mum. And I think he likes me too. When you and dad were unconscious after you fainted at the bank, I was out of it. I think I was in shock, Harry tried to talk to me but I wasn't hearing anything, the next thing I know, he's kissing me. He's kissed me before, on the cheek. He does that a lot, but this time, it was on the lips. When I asked him why, he said it was because he wanted to."

She finished with a blush. Emma smiled at her daughter, happy that her first crush was a nice boy. She knew that Dan wouldn't have a problem with it, they agreed that Harry was a nice boy and Hermione would be hard pressed to find someone as nice and respectful. Dan wasn't an overbearing and over protective father, he knew his daughter was to independent for that and would never accept it. The elder Grangers were just happy Hermione found someone that could get her out of her shell and help her live a little.

Towards the end of the day they made their way to Flourish & Blotts, where Hermione dashed from section to section grabbing books that she thought looked interesting. Though, she was slightly disappointed about the lack of variety. When all was said and done, they walked out with only 6 books.

Hermione complained, "Why don't they have books on more interesting things?"

Harry explained, "Because the Ministry bans certain things. You can find them in Knockturn Alley though, if you know where to look."

Hermione said, "I read that it was a place for dark wizards, what is it really?"

The older Grangers were surprised and this, more than anything else, showed how much she changed, she no longer believed everything that what was said in books was true.

Harry replied, "It is where the less 'Desirable' people of the magical society go. It is a rough place but once you know how to walk in that place, people don't really bother you."

Emma asked, "What do you mean 'Once you know how to walk'?"

Harry said, "Well, it's all in your body-language. If you walk like you know where you're going, and have an 'intimidating' look, people leave you alone. When I go to places like it and when I went during the summer, it was easy to walk in the place because all I had to do was walk around in a confident manner, in a black cloak with the hood up and exude an aura that was made people stay away. I'll show you back at the house, if I do it here, people will ask questions."

The Grangers nodded and they went home.

As the days passed, Hermione and Harry spent their time walking around her neighborhood just talking and getting to know each other better. Hermione learned more about the places that Harry had been and how he came to think the way he did and Harry learned about Hermione's life before Hogwarts, why she believed that authority figures were always to be listened to and her total belief that what she read in books was true. At night, they would meditate and Harry would help Hermione to perfect her animagus transformation.

Before they knew it, Christmas day had arrived and Harry was up and downstairs earlier than normal. At 8 in the morning, the Grangers came downstairs in their robes and slippers to find the table laden with breakfast. Harry walked through the kitchen doors with four cups of coffee.

He saw them and smiled, "Merry Christmas."

The smiled and Hermione said, "Happy Christmas, Harry. What's all this?"

Harry shrugged, "I wanted to thank you for inviting me to spend Christmas with your family. I made Belgium waffles, Ham and Potato Omelets and French Toast."

The Granger's mouths started to water at hearing what he made. They quickly sat down, to eat. Hermione hugged Harry and kissed him on the cheek, not caring that her parents were in the same room. And thanked him. The moment that the food touched their mouths, all three of them groaned in delight.

During the meal Hermione and Harry talked to each other about the prank they set up the two previous nights. When asked, they explained it to Dan and Emma.

_Flashback_

Harry and Hermione shadow walked back to Hogwarts. They had to keep the misdirection going. Therefore, the 'House of Shadows' was going to play a Christmas time prank. They made their way to the main entrance to the Great Hall. Once there, they set up aversion wards around the entire area so they weren't disturbed while they worked.

They each took out a piece of chalk. The chalk would disappear after 24 hours, leaving no trace of itself. Harry started drawing runes along the door frame. After about ten minutes he was finished. They shadowed to another entrance and repeated the process another three times, once for each entrance to the Great Hall. After all the entrances were taken care of, they shadowed to the interior of the Great Hall. Once there, they went to the center and each drew a circle of runes. Once done, Harry stepped inside and started casting the spell. A few moments after he was done chanting the spell, a ripple of magic rushed outward and seemed to climb the walls of the Hall and cover the ceiling. Once it was over, Hermione looked around confused, Harry whispered in her ear and she nodded, her confusion cleared. She then started waving her hand around the hall. Snow stareds to fall from the ceiling and vanished 30 seconds after hitting the floor or tables. She waved her hands again and statues of their animagus forms popped into existence, four sets each. Each cat had a small Christmas hat on, while the birds had tiny hats on. She waved her hand one more time, tying the spells together then they both shadowed back to the Grangers.

In the morning, Albus immediately felt like he forgot something, but couldn't seem to remember what. He continued on with his morning routine and made his way down from his office. Once at the entrance hall, he was sure that he forgot something. What few students and staff there were left in the castle, were all congregating in the Entrance Hall.

McGonagall rushed up to him. "Albus! No one can remember where to go to eat. I remember eating somewhere in the castle but not where. What's happening?"

A concerned Albus reassured her and sent everyone back to their common rooms for breakfast. He then informed the house elves where to send the food. He made his way up to his office and flooed the Potters.

James answered, "Good morning Albus, what can I do for you?"

Albus replied, "Good morning James. I have a question, do you remember where we took meals in the castle?"

James opened his mouth to answer, then grew confused, "No, I don't. That's odd. I remember the meals but not where they happened. What's going on?"

Lily walked in towards the end, "What do you mean James? Oh, hello Headmaster, how is your morning?"

Albus sighed, "Good morning Lily, I wish it could be better, we seem to have lost the place where we take meals in the castle."

Lily opened her mouth, then closed it slowly, with a frown on her face, "How is it we don't remember?"

Albus sighed, "I don't know. I guess, for now, we will just take our meals in the common rooms and the staff room. I will keep you updated. Happy Christmas."

The Potters nodded their farwells, still in thought. Albus pulled his head out of the fire and went to sit at his desk.

_End Flashback_

The Grangers were amazed at what they did.

Emma asked, "Where will they eat today though?"

Harry smirked, "The chalk we used to draw the runes vanished last night around 3 o'clock in the morning, thus, canceling the spell. They should be fine now, though we left a present for them in the Great Hall."

When Dan asked them to explain, they did.

_At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Albus woke up and again realized something was different. He remembered where the Great Hall was. How could he have forgotten? He quickly got ready and rushed down to the Entrance Hall, where everyone else in the castle was waiting.

Flitwick came up to him, "Headmaster, I believe I know what happened. Someone must have cast a Fidelius Charm on the Great Hall sometime during the night before last. It is the only explanation that fits."

Albus didn't want to admit it but it did fit what happened. But how would someone sneak into the castle and why would they cast it just over the Great Hall. Finally, he walked to the doors. No one had opened them, for fear of why they couldn't find the Hall the previous day. The headmaster threw the doors open and everyone finally saw what was inside.

Everything seemed to look normal, the only thing out of place was the snow falling from the ceiling and staying on the floor and tables for longer than was the norm. Slowly, Albus, the other teachers walked into the Hall. When the headmaster signaled the all clear, the rest of the school walked into the Great Hall and food suddenly appeared on the tables as it usually did in the mornings. Seeing nothing wrong, the inhabitants of the castle all sat down to eat their Christmas breakfast.

The moment the last person sat down, eight giant black cats appeared around the hall and started walking around the table, four falcons and four ravens appeared and started flying around the hall, sometimes swooping down to the table and stealing something off of person's plate. All of the animals were completely black and all had a Christmas hat on.

All of a sudden, Snape jumped up and started singing "Jingle Bells". After a few moments, the students started to laugh. The Weasley twins had to lean on each other to keep from falling over. Even a few professors had a hard time not laughing at the sight of Severus Snape singing Holiday songs. After he was done, he sat back down and snarled at the other students.

Before he could say anything, the castle shook and a voice said, "The House of Shadows wishes all of you a Happy Christmas. We want to thank Professor Snape for taking the time out of his day to sing different Christmas Carols to everyone, every hour, on the hour. And don't think you can hide your talent Professor, you will always find a great audience to hear your Christmas spirit."

As soon as the voice faded, the Weasley twins fell off the bench gasping for air as they laughed. The other students weren't much better.

Albus was shocked, someone had placed the Great Hall under a powerful enchantment just to play a prank?

_Back at the Granger's House_

Dan and Emma were laughing as they finished dinner. They were amazed at what their daughter could do and how much she had changed.

After breakfast, the three Grangers shooed Harry out of the kitchen and told him, since he made breakfast, they could clean up.

After they were done in the kitchen, they came out to the main sitting room and Hermione started passing around the presents. Hermione received various books from her other family members, her parents got her a pendant in the shape of a book, they explained that it would keep her Manybook safe at all times. No one could remove the pendant except her. She could put any book inside of it, but only one book, she obviously chose the Manybook. Harry got her a communication mirror and a copy of his entire collection on Arithmancy books and a set of new Jane Austin books, she had told him that hers were worn out from overuse. She was ecstatic. The elder Grangers were a little confused about the mirror, but it was cleared up when Harry gave them their own and explained that it would allow them to talk to Hermione whenever they wished. All three Grangers thanked him profusely. He also gave them each a Never-ending Journal. He explained the concept to them and added that the back cover also doubled as communication paper, for when the mirror couldn't be used. And he ended by giving Dan and Emma each a watch, he explained that they would protect them from all types of magical attack, both magical and potion and they had an emergency portkey to get them to safety if unforgivables were used.

Harry received a book on Ancient Sumerian Runes and a complete collection of C. S. Lewis books. Hermione had told them that they were some of her favorite books. The older Grangers got him a set of J. R. R. Tolkien books, he had never had a chance to read them. Harry also opened his gifts from his friends from out of country, from Miku, he got a comb that fixes his hair for the day with just running through his hair once. From Jammel, he got a a charmed dueling sphere. The other gifts he got were various rune books and items for daily use. One gift, from Jean, Harry's old sparring buddy, stood out though, a book that was charmed to show live duels in different tournaments, with the statistics on each dueler on the opposite page as the "screen" that allowed him to watch it. Surprisingly, the Potter family owl showed up half way through their morning. It appeared that they were trying to entice him back by giving him an expensive Nimbus 2000. He wrote them a note saying thank you, but no thanks, he already had a broom, a Slipstream 2000, an American made broom and sent the broom back. Another owl interrupted their morning, however this one was welcome, Ragnok had sent a gift to Harry, a book on goblin runes, as thanks for the Nundu tooth that Harry had sent him.

Harry explained, "I've known him for years, I started sending him a Christmas present when I was 8 years old. I got the Nundu tooth while I was in Africa looking for Blackwood for my wand." he took out his unused wand and showed it to them, "Our party was attacked one morning and we had to kill the beast. It was hard, for normal witches and wizards, it usually takes no less than 20 people to take one out. We only had ten people. The others were just testing their survival training and decided to come along with Shadow and I. No one was killed but one of our guides was hurt. It took him about a week to recover enough for us to move. I wasn't involved directly in the fight, I kept to the shadows and attacked it when it wasn't looking. I mainly provided a diversion and allowed the others to kill it. But because I helped, even just a little, the others let me take two teeth."

The others were surprised and slightly awed, though Hermione was a bit angry and made Harry promise to try not to get into those situations again. After they were done with the presents, they started to clean up and Harry got out three more presents and wrapped them, Hermione had helped give him an idea of what to give the recipients so he wrote her name on the gift as well. He called for Gwen and had her take them.

_Great Hall, Hogwarts Castle_

Breakfast was finishing up and everyone was getting ready to go about their day when white flames erupted above Snape, making him jump once again. The Weasley twins laughed a this, though it hurt from their earlier outburst. Gwen trilled in amusement, then glided down to the Twins and allowed them to untie a package with their names on it. She then glided over to Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall and gave them their packages as well.

The twins gasped and started whispering to each other, causing much of the staff to fear what they received.

Ron looked over at the book and read, "'Pranks from Japan; Creative ways to drive your school crazy'. Why would someone send you that?"

The staff stared in horror at the book and the twins snatched it up and ran from the hall before anyone could take it from them.

McGonagall shivered and said, "Why do I feel like someone walked over my grave?"

She then looked at the book she received and gasped, "The Art of Transfiguration; By Godric Gryffindor. How on earth did he get this?"

Flitwick gaped at his own gift, "Probably the same place he got this, Rare and Obscure Animation Charms; No author. There are charms in here that I haven't even heard of!"

Sprout smiled at her gift, "He got me a book on rare plants of the Amazonian Rain forest. I'll have to thank him when he returns."

Ron still didn't understand who they were talking about, "Who are you going to thank, who sent all the books? And why would someone want books for Christmas?"

Percy smacked the back of his head, "Obviously that Ravenclaw, Harry Daniels, sent them. He's the only one in Hogwarts that has a Shadow Phoenix."

McGonagall said, "While I'll thank him when I see him for this, I'll still deduct points for getting the twins that blasted book on pranks."

Flitwick laughed, "I'll do the same, but he and Ms. Granger will make them up and more so their first lesson back."

_Potter Manor_

The family owl arrived just as Chris finished up opening his presents, Remus, Sirius and his new fiance were there. James and Lily were disappointed to see that the broom they sent to Harry was returned. Lily saw a note and snatched it off the poor owl. After reading it she let a few tears escape.

She read it, "_Dear Potter Family,_

_Thank you for the gift, but I have to decline. I do not accept presents from people I do not know, it sets a bad precedent. Besides, I have a perfectly fine broom, a Slipstream 2000, from America. Though, I am slightly offended that you would think that I could be bought. However, I shall forget this ever happened and merely write it off as a mistake and hope the broom reaches it's intended recipient._

_Happy Holidays,_

_Lord Harry Jackson Daniels_

As she finished she let a few more tears leak out of her eyes.

James said, "How could he think we were trying to buy him? We just sent him a Christmas present."

Remus said, "Well, look at it from his point of view, we corner him and try to force him to spend the holidays with us. He says no, and then basically cuts ties with all of us. Then you send him a very expensive broom for Christmas."

Lily says, "When you put it like that it does seem bad. We just wanted to give him a gift to show that we do care."

As she finished, Chris walked into the room form putting his new things in his room. He saw the broom.

He said, "Cool! Another Nimbus 2000, but I already have one. Why did you get me another one."

James said, "We didn't get it for you. We sent it to your brother and he sent it back."

Chris scowled, "Why did you get that idiot anything?"

Lily sternly said, "Don't talk about Harry like that. He's still your brother."

Chris replied, "But why? All he does is hang out with that buck tooth know-it-all and those snakes. All we ever see them doing is studying or talking to each other in another language."

Lily said, "Well, maybe you should study more too. Your grades aren't what they could be. And I thought you would have learned your lesson about insulting her the last time! Maybe if you got to know him he wouldn't be so bad."

Chris shrugged, "Well, that law doesn't work anymore so he can't use it again. Besides he doesn't ever want to do anything but hang out with her. And what about those snakes he hangs out with." as he finished, his shoes once again grew wheels and his legs spasmed and he fell on his ass.

Sighing, Lily helped her son up and James asked, "Who does he hang out with?"

Chris, still scowling at falling, said, "Zabini, Greengrass and Davis. Though he doesn't hang out with them all the time, mostly they just go off by themselves. A few times, me and the boys have followed them and they just seem to explore the castle. They've found places that I didn't even know about, and I've been going to the castle for years. Sometimes, they go down a corridor and when we follow them, they disappeared, and it was a dead end! They must know plenty of secret passageways. More than on the map you made me."

James was surprised, he thought that he and the other Marauders had found all the secrets the castle had. He glanced at Sirius and Remus, who just shrugged.

Lily just said, "It doesn't matter. He seems to have enough time to do his work and still explore the castle. And just because that law was repealed, doesn't mean that you can go back to insulting them all over again."

Chris just shrugged and walked away, intent on having a fly on his broom.

Sirius looked at James and Lily, "So what are you going to do with the broom? I've read about those Slipstreams. They're very good, the American national team uses them, they suppose to be better than the Nimbus series."

Emmeline finally spoke up, "Besides, where would he have put it? 1st years aren't allowed to have a broom."

James shrugged, "I hadn't really thought of that."

Eventually they decided to put the broom away, hopefully they would get another chance to give it to him after they explained.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.

Chapter 8

The rest of the Holidays went by quickly. Harry and Hermione spent their days reading and talking about magic. The evenings were spent watching movies with the elder Grangers and talking about the places that Harry had been to. He also told them a little more about what the Order did.

Before they knew it, they were at Platform 9¾, getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express back to school. They saw the Malfoy family arrive and when Draco started talking, the Grangers and Harry all noticed the expression of relief on the adult Malfoys as Draco's voice started to return to normal.

Dan chuckled, "You didn't say that the spell would last the whole break. You mean his voice was high pitched like that the whole time?"

Harry smirked, he knew that the Malfoys were listening to their conversation, "I have no idea what you're talking about Dan. I would never jinx someone that way. I wouldn't even know where to learn something like that. I know friends that know how, and they would teach me if I asked, but I never did."

They all laughed at the double talk and walked away, leaving behind a very angry Malfoy family. As they made their way to the train, they passed by a few families, Harry and Hermione greeted the few classmates that they knew and answered their questions about their holidays. They saw the Potters, Lord Black and Remus Lupin, but Harry and Hermione studiously ignored them. They talked with Emma and Dan for a bit, then got on the train.

They found an empty compartment towards the back of the train. Harry glanced out the window and saw that Lily Potter was getting on the train as well, most likely to be a chaperon for the way back. He threw up a notice-me-not ward on their door and sat back opened a book. Hermione copied him and opened up her new Manybook to read more about Rowena Ravenclaw through her journal. Harry read more about Goblin Runes. They were different from what he was used to and he found them fascinating.

The trip back went by fairly quickly. Harry only dropped the ward on their compartment for the trolley so they could get something to eat. After the trolley lady left, he once again put a notice-me-not ward up and they continued reading in silence. When they got back to Hogsmeade station, they saw Padma, Su Li and Lisa. They exchanged hellos and asked about each other's holidays. Harry and Hermione had decided to just give their friends some candy and never-ending notebooks. In return, they received an assortment of candies from their friends.

As they reached the main hall, McGonagall stopped them and pierced them with a glare, "While I appreciate the wonder book you sent me, I do not appreciate that you sent the Weasley twins more ideas for their pranks. I have to take 5 points each for contributing to create chaos in the school."

Harry and Hermione smiled innocently, "We have no idea what you're talking about professor. We just sent our friends a book that we thought they might find interesting, the same as you and Professors Flitwick and Sprout."

McGonagall just shook her head and walked off. A few of the other Ravenclaws were irritated that they had managed to get points taken away while they were away from the break, but then realized that it wasn't much and they would most likely make those points back up during their first class. Harry and Hermione quietly walked into the Great Hall for the welcoming feast. They sat quietly as the headmaster made his normal "Welcome back" speech and then started eating. All the while, Harry ignored the sad looks coming from Lily Potter.

Lily Potter was greatly disappointed, she had hoped to find Harry on the train, to try and explain that they weren't trying to buy his affection, that they were just trying to make up for how they had treated him. But she couldn't find them anywhere on the train. She had walked up and down the compartments numerous times but had not found him. She thought that she had spotted the Granger girl talking to the trolley lady but had lost sight of her during the rush of students to get sweets. Even now, at the feast, he was completely ignoring her.

Harry pulled out his special "dueling book" and he and Hermione watched a duel that was going on in Switzerland. A few others leaned over and watched as well and soon, word had spread. After a few minutes, there was a crowd around Harry and Hermione as other students tried to watch the duel. It was a low ranking duel on the overall circuit. Soon enough, Flitwick made his way down to see what the commotion was about.

When he inquired as to what was going on, Harry replied, "Sorry, Professor. I got this 'Dueling Book' for Christmas from a friend. It shows live duels from different parts of the world. Right now it is just a few rookies on the preliminaries. The real duels won't start for another few weeks."

He showed the diminutive professor the book and Flitwick was intrigued, "This is a wonderful gift. I wonder where your friend got it? I would love to keep up with the dueling circuit but because of my responsibilities here, I can't."

Harry offered, "I can mail my friend and ask him where he got it. He got it for me because he knew I would want to know what was going on. Before I came here, I followed the circuit religiously. That's mainly how I learned my defense. When someone wasn't actually teaching me something, I would watch duels and combine other's techniques with my own. Right now, I only have maybe a third or fourth year education, spell-wise, but I more than make up for it with my speed. All my sparring partners hate to duel me because I am always faster than they are. Though they beat me more than I beat them, they are exhausted by the time they are done." he finished with a smile.

They quickly got back into their routine of being back at the castle. Hermione would talk with her parents once a week, though Harry suspected that Miku was keeping in contact with her as well, but he didn't care, they were both entitled to talk with each other. They also started using regular paper and pens in class. At first, they had problems in potions but after Harry again fined the school for his supplies that were destroyed by Snape, he stopped. Harry thanked Shadow for his late gift. It was a recipe for a very rare, very difficult potion. He explained that all Walkers took the potion at the completion of their training. It was developed by Shadow's great-great-grandfather, who had also been in the Order. He explained that he would have the chance to take it the following summer, Hermione as well, if he got her up to his level.

He explained that the potion would greatly affect the drinker, both physically and magically. It would give him a moderate boost to his magical core, it would increase his strength and speed. It would give him resistance to fire and ice and also an affinity for those types of spells. It would make him more spell resistant, improve his healing drastically, improve his mind magics and finally he would be able to blend into the background very easily and travel by phoenix flame. He said that in some cases, it would give a person the ability to transform into magical creatures as easily as any other animagus transformation. Harry was very keen on taking the potion, Hermione was as well. Though when he asked, Shadow wrote to him explaining that if someone wanted out, after taking the potion, they would need to take another potion to reverse all of the side effects.

From there, their training took off to another level. Hermione's need for sleep slowly started to dwindle, until about halfway through February, when it stopped and she only needed about 2 to 3 hours sleep to feel completely rested. Harry was the same, though he had been for much longer. At first Hermione found it rather annoying to be up at all hours of the night, but she slowly grew to take advantage of it. Before, Harry had to avoid being found alone by Lily Potter, but she eventually got the hint to leave him alone. Though she never stopped with the "Kicked Puppy" look during meals.

A few times, the "House of Shadows" made their appearance. Both times, they had pranked the whole school. The first had been a standard, "The whole school was forced to wear their house colors, even their skin and hair, for a day". Even the staff was hit, whatever house they had been in, their robes, skin and hair was changed to that color for the day. The second time the "Shadows", as most people were calling them, was much more... interesting.

_Flashback_

It was about halfway through March. One morning, the entire castle woke up to find life size representation of their house mascot prowling around their common rooms and through the halls. Only a few students could see what they really were, illusions, there were just stuffed animals of each animal sitting on the floor where ever a "mascot" was found. Even the staff believed them to be real. The only member of staff that saw them for what they were, was the headmaster. He had a very hard time trying to convince the other staff members that they really were just illusions. Most students wouldn't even leave their common rooms, at least from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Ravenclaw just treated the ravens as any other bird that found it's way into the castle. Hufflepuff just treated the badgers like any other pets. The lions and snakes prowling the halls were avoided at all cost though.

Harry and Hermione had a very hard time not laughing at the chaos the prank had caused. They knew that the snakes and lions wouldn't harm anyone. The snakes just nuzzled a person and the lions just acted like giant house cats.

After dinner Dumbledore stood at the podium, "Today was very interesting as most of you know. However, I feel I should tell you, none of the animals you saw today were real. They were simple illusions woven around stuffed animal representations of the House mascots. Is there anyone that would like to come forward and claim credit for a marvelous display of charms and illusions?"

After a few moments of silence, all the shadows in the Great Hall darkened and grew in size.

Peeves came through the doors and said, "Peeves is here to take credit for the Shadow's work."

Albus asked, "Ah, well could you tell us who are these 'Shadows'?"

The Shadows around the Great Hall flashed for a moment and Peeves answered, "Peeves can't, for Peeves doesn't know himself. Peevesy just respects those who are true mischief makers. He was in the hallway by the staff's room when the Shadows formed words, now Peeves be here to accept credit in the Shadow's stead."

All of a sudden a black piece of parchment appeared in front of Peeves and he snatched it out of the air, he read, "We are not foolish enough to come forward, but we do appreciate your kind words Headmaster. We will endeavor to continue to show our aptitude for magic and other things."

The staff groaned and the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan jumped off their benches and bowed down to Peeves chanting, "Teach us, Teach us. We wish to be one with the Shadows."

_End Flashback_

After that incident, the staff seemed to keep a closer eye on Harry and Hermione, though mainly Harry. He distinctly got the impression that they suspected him of something. Instead of changing how he acted, he simply continued on with his daily schedule. He figured that they would eventually move on to another suspect, after all, who would think an ickle firstie could do all the magic required to perform some of the pranks that had happened.

About halfway through March, Harry had had enough. He continued to have his suspicions about Quirrell and after they overheard Chris and the other two Gryffindors talking about Hagrid hatching a dragon egg in his hut, he knew something was going on. He and Hermione worked out that whoever had sold Hagrid the dragon egg, must have wanted information about something. They also knew that the easiest way to get Hagrid to talk was to get him drunk. Hermione made the connection to the stone on the third floor.

She said, "Whoever it was that sold him that egg, must have used that opportunity to ask about that three headed dog, Fluffy. After enough drinks, Hagrid would spill any secret he had. After what you've been saying about Quirrell, I wouldn't be surprised that it was him that was trying to steal it. I mean, who would suspect a little professor that was afraid of his own shadow. From what you said on Halloween, he probably let the troll in as a diversion. He said that it was in the dungeons, that left him plenty of time to get to the third floor and try to get past the dog. But from watching Snape limp the following few days, he probably headed him off and got himself bitten. It doesn't surprise me that the three stooges would think it was him. Though, I would have to question why they would immediately think of the one professor that shows outright hatred for Potter and you. Not very 'covert' is it?"

Harry laughed, "No, but you just answered your own question, they _are_ the three stooges. I think that we need to get the stone before Quirrell, or whoever is after it, gets it. I'm positive that Dumbles knows that something is wrong with Quirrell. We've known since Halloween and there have been plenty of other signs. Which leads me to believe that he has set up some kind of test for Chris."

Hermione interjected, "You know, he might have set up the test for Chris initially, but I have a feeling that after that display of control and power before Christmas, he may believe that you are the _Boy-Who-Lived_."

Harry scowled, "Great, just what I need, a nosey old man, stuck with the 'hippie' look, that thinks it's his god-given right to meddle and manipulate my life. Probably for some 'Greater Good' crap. Well, it looks like we will just have to go in and get out without tripping any wards and without him realizing that it's me."

Hermione said, "Why are we going to go through all of it at all? We could just shadow walk past everything."

Harry nodded, "True, but I want to know if this is just some convoluted test made by Dumbles for boy wonder."

Hermione nodded, "Okay, are we going tonight? And how does he have the 'hippie' look?"

Harry laughed, "Think about it, I mean he probably hasn't trimmed his beard or got a hair cut in decades, not to mention the 'outta this world' colors he wears. And yes, we'll shadow walk past any protections, but I want to see these so-called 'protections'."

Hermione laughed her agreement and nodded and they continued on with their day. That night, after everyone had gone to bed, they made their way to the common room. They didn't say anything, just nodded to each other. They found that they knew each other so well, that they didn't need words anymore. They could have whole conversations without saying a word. They placed a Shadow ward that mimicked a Notice-Me-Not charm, on themselves as well as used their invisibility cloaks. Hermione had gotten the same contacts that Harry had, they let them see through cloaks (Though for their "true" cloaks of invisibility, they tied them to themselves with blood, allowing them to see through their own cloaks, Harry had gotten a hold of his brother's cloak and used a charm to allow him to see through it as well), disillusionment charms, Notice-Me-Not fields and a whole host of other things. This way they could remain unseen to all but themselves. They also silenced their feet, clothes and cloaks so as to not let the swishing of fabric create any noise. They also vanished their scent and scrambled their magical signature.

After they were done making sure they wouldn't be detected, they shadow walked their way to the third floor corridor.

Once inside Harry through up a wall of silence and Harry said, "Once we get down there, we shouldn't talk. There's no telling if there are any wards down there. If we need to, throw up Shadow Wards. The old man won't know how to block those."

Hermione nodded and Harry dropped the wall of silence. Hermione cast a powerful sleeping charm on the beast guarding the trapdoor. Then Harry lifted the trapdoor and jumped down. Hermione was quick to follow him, soon enough they landed on a soft, spongy surface. They immediately realized that they are far from safe. Hermione identified the plant they had landed on as Devil's Snare. They quickly shadow walked below it, because they did not want their presence known so they left no trace of themselves.

They quickly made their way down a hallway to another door and shadow to the other side. There they found themselves in a room with three brooms and what looked like hundreds of little birds flying around. They make their way across the room to the door on the far side. Harry is the first one to realize that the birds aren't birds at all. He motioned at Hermione. He pointed to the "birds" and then to the door handle. She nodded her understanding, then stared at the door handle for a few moments. Then she silently summoned a big, old fashioned silver key. It came struggling towards her. She let go of the spell and the key darted away. They nod to each other and proceeded to the next room.

Once on the other side of the "Key Room" they walked towards another door down the hallway. Once inside they quickly realized that they are in the middle of a giant chess board. They decided not to chance detection and shadow past the board to the door. When they reached the other side and the chess pieces don't attack, they shook their heads in annoyance and continued on.

In the next room they met, what they think was, the first REAL form of protection. It was a huge mountain troll. It made the one on Halloween seem like a child in comparison. Luckily they were charmed silent, scentless and completely invisible. The brute seemed to be asleep, in the corner of the room. They skirted the edge of the room and got by without any type of problems.

In the following room, the moment they walked in, fire erupted on both exits of the room. They saw a scroll of parchment sitting on a table with different sized vials of... something. Hermione grabbed the parchment and quickly read it, then erected a shadow ward to allow them to talk.

She said, "Harry, this may be a decent protection. It is just a logic puzzle. Most magicals that I have seen so far, don't seem to have an ounce of logic in their bodies. I think the magic takes it's place."

Harry smirked, "I agree, but you are forgetting one thing. We can use a simple potion detection charms to rule out the vials with wine in them. Next, we could use more complex charms to detect deadly poisons. That would leave us with the potion to move forward and the potion to let us go back. Besides, we don't even need to do any of that. Any sixth year knows a basic 'Flame-Freezing" charm. You can find more complex charms in Flourish and Blotts or in the library."

Hermione sighed, "Yes, I suppose if you want to take the fun out of solving the riddle."

Harry chuckled and waved his hands, "Far be it for me to deprive you of the chance to solve a problem, go ahead."

Hermione scowled, playfully at Harry but looked at the riddle again.

After about 30 seconds, she sighed, "Well, that was disappointing. Those are the two potions to get you through the fire." She pointed to two different vials on the table.

They tested all the vials and sure enough, those two vials are the only vials without poison or wine in them, Harry huffed, "Why didn't the idiots make all of the vials poison and keep the correct potion in a locked and warded place in a different part of the castle? Or why not make the walls of flame slowly move closer to the center of the room to make would-be thieves sweat a bit? Put a little pressure to hurry up and thus have more of a chance at screwing up?"

Hermione shrugged. They put everything back where it was and then magically wipe all their fingerprints and other identifying factors from the room. Then they drop the Shadow Ward and continue past the fire. Once in the last room, they were slightly surprised to find a mirror sitting in the middle of the room. Harry stepped up to the front of it and saw his reflection in the mirror. Only it wasn't just his reflection. It had Hermione, Ms. Cerina, Miku, her parents, The Grangers, Jean, Jammel and all of those that he considers HIS family. Hermione was at the front with him and they are holding hands. All of a sudden, the reflected Harry put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a ruby red stone, he and Hermione smirk at Harry and reflected Harry put it back in his pocket, at the same time, Harry felt a heavy object fall into his pocket. He immediately knew he has the stone. He smirked at the ease of which he got the stone and smiled at the reflection as the reflected Harry and Hermione smile at each other and reflected Hermione kisses reflected Harry lightly on the cheek.

All the while, the real Hermione watched Harry stare into the mirror, waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden Harry reached into his pocket and showed her the stone. Hermione didn't know how he got it, but quickly handed the fake stone with runes carved into it to show the holder exactly what he wants to see, to Harry. She watched as Harry focused on the mirror and placed the fake in his pocket and Hermione watched as the bulge that indicated the stone was in his pocket, disappeared. Harry stepped away from the mirror and motioned for them to leave, but Hermione wanted to know what was so fascinating about the mirror. She stepped past Harry to stare into the mirror. She saw herself with her parents and grandparents. They were all smiling at her, she also noted that Harry was standing with her, in front of everyone. The reflections were holding hands and staring at each other in a way that no friend stares at another. She looked up and reads the inscription on the mirror. She blushed when she realizes what the mirror was showing her and turned away, towards Harry. He smiled at her and she smiled back, then silently, they shadow back to the common room, mission accomplished.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N - I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only play in the universe. Any ideas that other authors that recognize some of their ideas, I apologize, I have read so many stories that I can't remember where I get some of them. Send me a PM and I will try to give you the credit that you deserve. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.

Chapter 9

The following days after their adventure to get the stone were as normal as they could be. There was slight tension between both Harry and Hermione but nothing that was noticeable to anyone that didn't know them. After they got back to the common room, they both bid each other good night and Harry called Gwen to take the stone into his Merlin Vault, he figured that if ever there was a vault that was impenetrable, it was the 1st vault in the bank. He planned on giving it back to Flamel after the school year.

The following day, Hermione mirror called Miku, who was fast becoming her best girlfriend, despite their age difference and was currently in Belgium.

Hermione said, "Miku, I have a problem."

Miku replied, "What is it? Did something happen between you and Harry?"

Hermione nodded, unable to trust her voice for a few seconds.

When she finally got her thoughts in order, she said, "When we got the stone, it was being held within a mirror. It was the Mirror of Erised. Do you know what that does?"

Miku nodded and Hermione continued, "Well, whatever it showed Harry, it caused him to stare into it for a while. We got the stone but he seemed to be mesmerized. He looked like he was really happy. Well, I didn't realize what mirror it was at the time, so after we put the fake back in the mirror, I wanted to know what had him so enraptured, so I stood in front of it and looked at it."

Miku said, "Well? What did you see that has you all tied up in a knot?"

Hermione bit her lip, "You can't tell him, or anyone for that matter" Miku nodded and Hermione continued, "I saw my family, and... Harry standing next to me. We were a bit older but we were holding hands and looking at each other like we were more than friends. I don't know what to do? I think he likes me like that but I'm not sure."

Miku smiled as Hermione told her what was wrong, Harry had called her earlier and told her the same thing, she said, "Well, the only thing you can do is talk about it with him. You told me about what he did when you found out you had all those vaults. I have to say, he likes you. Either that or he was just trying to get a cheap kiss from you, though in the almost 7 years that I've known that kid, he doesn't seem like the type. I know this much though, if you like him, then talk to him about it. You never know, maybe he saw you in the mirror too."

Hermione sighed, she was afraid Miku was going to say that, "But I don't want to ruin our friendship. He was the first and so far, he is my only friend. I have other acquaintances, but he is my only true friend. I don't want to make things weird between us."

Miku smiled at her insecurities, "Don't worry Hermione, if he is truly your friend, he won't let things get weird between you. If he doesn't feel the same way, then he will let you know in a way that doesn't make you feel bad. Besides, he's a boy, girls mature faster than boys, not to mention boys are sometimes stupid."

Hermione giggled, "Okay. Thanks for listening Miku, I'll talk to you later."

The 19 year old smiled at the 11 year old, "By Hermione, don't worry. It'll all work out."

Hermione smiled and put the mirror away. She left her room and walked downstairs. She saw Harry sitting on the couch reading his Manybook, probably some book on Runes.

She made her way over to him and sat down next to him.

He looked up as she sat down and smiled brightly at her, "Hey Mione."

Hermione smiled back at him, "Hey Harry, whatcha reading?"

Harry smiles, "Just the book Ragnok sent me. I've already read it 4 times and I still find something new each time I reread it."

Hermione smiled, then she looked around, "Harry, I need to talk to you."

Harry heard the seriousness in her voice and put his book down, put up Shadow privacy wards, turning all his attention on her.

Hermione took a deep breath, "Harry, I would like to know what you saw in the mirror."

Harry stared at her for a while, then looked away, "Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

Hermione got closer to him on the couch, "Please, I saw something and it got me thinking. I- I like you Harry, a lot. When I looked into the mirror, I saw my family... and you. We were standing together in front of everyone and we were holding hands and we didn't seem to be friends, it looked like we were more than that. I mean I can understand if you don't see me like that, but I wanted to let you know. You don't have to tell me the same, I just felt like I should have told you how I feel. I'm sorry if you don't want to be my friend anymo-"

Harry cut her off by putting a finger on her lips, "You're rambling, Mione. You didn't even hear me talking. I was saying that I like you to. I saw us standing in together in the mirror, in front of all my friends and family and your family as well, or at least your parents. I didn't know if you felt the same way. I mean you didn't slap me at the bank so I thought maybe you liked me, but wasn't completely sure."

Hermione smiled, "Well, I'll clear that up." with that she leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

Harry smiled, "So, are you my girlfriend?"

Hermione blushed and said shyly, "Yes, but it's not like we'll do things much differently. We already give each other kisses on the cheeks and hold each other's hands. How about we just continue as we did before, just slip some kisses on the lips in every so often. But more or less, we just act the same. It was like we were boyfriend and girlfriend before. That way, as we get older, if we decide that we want to stop, we can still be friends and not worry about any awkwardness because we would have just been acting like we always do."

Harry smiled, "Okay, but if we still like each other in third year, I will ask you be my real girlfriend, so I can take you to nice places and tell everyone."

Hermione blushed and smiled.

After they agreed to take things slow, things quickly got back to normal for them. The only difference was that they held hands a lot more and were a lot closer than before. When they were alone they kissed each other sometimes, but mostly, they just liked being with each other. Harry told her more about how he felt towards the Potters and the people from his old life and how he felt before he met the Order. She told him more about her life before Hogwarts and about some of her bouts of accidental magic.

Once interesting thing happened around the beginning of May. Somehow, Chris, Neville and Seamus Finnigan managed to lose 150 poits in one night. In so doing, Gryffindor's standing in the House Cup went from 2nd, behind Ravenclaw, to dead last. There were plenty of rumors about how they did it, but they nothing could be proven. After that, it seemed like the whole of Gryffindor House turned against them. Seamus and Neville seemed to take it pretty hard. No one seemed to want to have anything to do with them. People had figured out that Ron was behind some of it too, even if he was in the Hospital Wing, so they started to shun him as well. Chris seemed to take everything in stride. He continued to act like a pompous ass, his attitude didn't endear anyone to him either. If anything, it made him more hated because it seemed like he didn't even care that he lost his house enough points to put them out of the House Cup race. He continued to say things like, "At least Malfoy lost Slytherin 50 points." No one cared about that, 50 points wasn't to bad, but 150 points was outrageous!

Though it finally got through to him after a week of nonstop pranks, directed strictly at him, and all of Gryffindor house claimed credit for them. He spent a day walking around bald and completely white. Another prank was, every time he sat down, he farted, whether in the Great Hall, in front of the school or in the safety of his own dormitory. The final straw, however, was when his was forced to wear a dress that had the number 150 on it, for an entire day.

Throughout all this going on, Harry and Hermione noticed a distinct change in the way some of the staff treated them. They, mainly Harry, was invited down to Hagrid's on more than one occasion. During which, newspaper clippings were "carelessly" laying about the hut. There were other, less obvious ways that seemed to be clues or hints at what was hidden on the third floor. They both realized very quickly that Hermione had been right, the old man was trying to figure out who was the real Boy-Who-Lived. They studiously ignored the clues and veiled "interesting" facts.

Soon exam time was upon the inhabitants of the castle. For fifth and seventh years, that meant OWLs and NEWTs, which in turn, meant that many upper years had shorter tempers and patience for everyone around them. Everywhere they looked, people were cramming for tests. Harry and Hermione met up with Padma, Terry, Su Li, Lisa, Blaise, Daphne and Tracey on more than one occasion, whether in the library or elsewhere in the castle. A few times a couple of Hufflepuffs; Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Lilian Moon, Justin Finch-Flechley and Ernie Macmillan, came along and studied with them, along with Padma's sister, Parvati, Lavender Brown and Sally Anne Perks from Gryffindor, who also joined them. Michael, Anthony, Morag, Mandy and a few others from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff studied by themselves, including the three stooges, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Occasionally the two groups would meet but not often. Those that didn't study with others, studied on their own. From what Harry and Hermione heard, the three stooges didn't really study to much, they were getting at least Acceptables in all their classes so they didn't care.

Harry and Hermione didn't need to study, really, thanks to their Occlumency, but decided to help their classmates and to brush up on their lessons, since they hadn't been paying attention in class to much, instead, they had been writing down different spells for different uses and dissecting their arithmatical formulas. At night they simply reread their course books and knew they would be okay with the exams.

All throughout the different exams people were stressing about their grades, at least those that cared. Harry and Hermione saw that Chris and the other two were very distracted and figured that it was because of the stone. Harry decided to put wards on the third floor corridor to alert him if the three Gryffindors were foolish to try and "protect" it from Snape.

Sure enough, the night after their last exam, the wards tripped, alerting Harry that Chris and his idiot friends were going down the trapdoor. He let Hermione know and they quickly got ready and silenced themselves, removed their scent and disillusioned themselves with a Shadow spell, then threw their cloaks over themselves and shadow walked to the third door. They watched as Chris apparently played a flute and put the giant dog to sleep. They quickly attached themselves to Chris' shadow and followed along.

Their trip was slightly boring the second time around. They watched as Neville identified the Devil's Snare and got them through that test. The next was the "Key Room". They were attached to Chris' shadow so when he took off on the broom to catch the key, they were ready to throw up because of the constant moving around and them not controlling it. It was during the dizzying flight when Harry noticed a slight shimmering in the corner of the room. He detached from Chris and went to a normal wall shadow and saw that it was Dumbles, the old man was watching the whole thing! Harry shook his head at the stupidity and rejoined Hermione in Chris' shadow. He sent her a shadow message explaining what he discovered and she too, was shocked at the idiocy the old man was showing. When they got to the next test, the giant chess board, they watched as Ron, "heroically" sacrificed himself to that Chris and Neville could go on.

When they got to the next room, both looked ready to faint at the sight of the giant troll lying dead on the floor. They got past it and went on to the Potion's Riddle. After looking at the piece of parchment for about 5 minutes, Chris and Neville had the choices of vials narrowed down to three. Hermione could tell that Chris was guessing when he pointed to a vial and Hermione knew from the design of the vial that it was wrong, thinking quickly, she cast a switching spell on the correct potion and swapped the poison for the potion to get him out. While she was taking care of Neville, Harry was paying attention to Chris. He watched as Chris surprisingly picked the correct vial of potion to drink from. They both watched as the two Gryffindors talked about what they would do. Neville would go back and get Ron to the Hospital Wing and get Dumbledore and Chris' mum and dad.

Harry scoffed as Chris said, "I'm the Boy-Who-Lived. Snape may be good, but I beat You-Know-Who. That should get him to think a bit before taking me on. But make sure that you get Dumbledore and my parents as soon as you can. I don't want them to miss me beating Snape and getting rid of him for good."

Neville nodded and downed the potion and walked back the way they came. Harry and Hermione watched as Dumbledore followed Neville. Hermione went with them while Harry went with Chris. Once on the other side, Chris was stunned that it wasn't Snape at all, it was Quirrell. Harry wasn't surprised at all. He had figured out that there was something wrong with the man from the beginning. After it was confirmed that someone was trying to steal the stone, he and Hermione concluded that the most logical answer was that it was Quirrell that was trying to steal the stone.

Harry listened to Chris and Quirrell banter with each other after the crook tied Chris up. When he started hearing a voice come from nowhere, Harry started scanning, with his contacts, for magical, thermal and any other traces that he could think of. He came up with nothing, except when he focused his mage sight on Quirrell himself. A sickly green color was emanating from the man's turban. Harry didn't have to wait long. Quirrell made Chris look into the mirror, after which Chris lied through his teeth about the stone being in his pocket. Quirrell seemed to plead with the voice, finally he started to unwrap his turban. After he was done, he turned his back to Chris and Harry had to do everything not to fall out of the shadow.

There was another face sticking out of the back of the man's head! "It" identified itself as Voldemort. As soon as Chris realized who he was facing, he promptly fainted. Voldemort laughed a cold, high laugh and told Quirrell to take the stone from the boy's pocket. Harry quickly went to another shadow and sent a hoard of offensive spells towards the possessed defense teacher, forcing him to dive out of the way.

Harry used a charm to deepen his voice so that it boomed around the corridor, "Look at you. You're pathetic, living off another to survive, like a weakling? Most pathetic wizards at least know when to give up, you're to stupid to know when you're done. Beaten by a mere child? You'll be remembered as one of the weakest wizards around."

Voldemort screamed in rage, "Where are you! Hiding like a coward?"

Harry laughed, "I'm not the one who hides behind a false name and flees from death's embrace. Nor am I the one who is so terrified of death that I would risk becoming something that even the weakest muggle would be able to best. You're not even human. You're an animal that needs to be put down. I will do this for your own good."

Voldemort screamed, "And who are you to do this?"

Harry chuckled and conjured up a "body" draped in a black rope and made it appear out of the shadows for a few seconds, while saying, "I am death. And I have come to claim what is mine."

"Death" retreated back into the shadows while Voldemort started to fling curses everywhere, trying to get his attacker. Harry laughed in his deep voice and continued to throw curses at the enraged being. After Voldemort started throwing unforgivables, Harry simply flicked from shadow to shadow faster than the blink of an eye and cast multiple cutting curses. After getting hit by at least 20 curses. Quirrell's body gave out and Harry watched as Voldemort's spectre rose out of the body, causing it to turn to ash, and flew towards Chris' body. Harry used his mage sight and saw that he just took what energy that Chris had. The Gryffindor would simply have magical exhaustion. Harry quickly fixed all the damage that Voldemort's curses had done to the room and watched as Dumbledore and Professors McGonagall, Snape Flitwick and Potter rushed into the chamber.

He watched as Dumbledore used Legilimency on Chris to find out what happened and saw the confusion of the old man's face. After making sure that everything was okay, Harry put a shadow charm on Chris to allow him to listen in on any conversations the old man had. Then he shadowed back to his common room where he met Hermione.

She explained, "As soon as Neville was back in the chess room, Dumbledore showed himself and took Neville and Ron back to the third floor corridor and then modified his memory to make Neville think that he made it back and met Dumbles outside the corridor. After that, Dumbledore called McGonagall, Snape, Potter and Flitwick to help him. You know the rest."

Harry explained what had happened with Quirrell and Chris, she was horrified to find out that Voldemort had been in the castle the whole time. She laughed when Harry told her about "death coming to claim what was his". After that, they went to bed. A few days later, Chris finally woke up and told Dumbles what happened. Or at least what he believed happen. Harry shadowed to the Hospital Wing and used Legilimency on Chris at the same time as Dumbles. The idiot actually believed what Dumbles had told him had happened, that he had fought back at Voldemort and had burned hi to ash just by touching him. No memory charms were even used!

Harry laughed at the confusion on the old man's face when he couldn't figure out what really happened. Harry also found out that the headmaster had told kept the "stone" but told Flamel that it had been destroyed. Dumbledore thought that it was for the "Greater Good" that he keep the stone, just in case something happened later on. He justified it to himself that he wouldn't use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

The end of the year feast was very standard. The only difference was that Dumbledore gave a speech that wasn't the standard "Farewell" speech.

He stood and said, "Another year has past and now the House Cup needs awarding."

The Ravenclaws cheered, actually everyone cheered except for the Slytherins, whose winning streak had finally ended. Plenty of students patted Harry and Hermione on their backs for all their point contributions. It was largely by their doing that Ravenclaw had won by such a high margin.

Dumbledore continued, "Yes, well done Ravenclaw. However, I have some last minute points to award." a hush fell over the hall, Harry and Hermione narrowed their eyes at the old man.

He couldn't possibly give those three enough points to overtake Ravenclaw!

The headmaster continued, "For a vast knowledge of plants, for one so young, I award 30 points to Neville Longbottom." the Gryffindor's cheered, though is was still subdued, "I also award 50 points to Ronald Weasley for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen in many years." more cheers went up from the Gryffindors, even if they didn't win, at least they beat Slytherin, "And finally, for outstanding Bravery in the face of danger, I award 50 points to Mr. Christopher Potter."

The Gryffindors cheered, they didn't win but they came in second! Harry smirked at Hermione, he could tell by the expression on Dumbledore's face that he wanted to give more points but couldn't justify doing it without showing his outright favoritism towards the Boy-Who-Lived. Hermione smiled back at him and the rest of the feast went by quickly. The Quidditch Cup went to Slytherin after a nasty defeat of Gryffindor, after which the seeker, Cormac McLaggen was forced to spend a week in the Hospital Wing after crashing head long into the side of the teacher's box, after being hit in the head by a bludger.

The following morning, Harry and Hermione seemed to be the only first years completely packed and ready to go. They had shrunk their trunks and Harry had Hedwig fly to the Grangers from the castlc so she wouldn't be cooped up in a cage the whole way back.

After breakfast, about an hour before they had to board the train, Harry and Hermione were walking around the grounds when the Potters came up to them, Lily said, "Harry, we just wanted to say that we are sorry that you felt that the Christmas gift we sent you gave you the message that we were trying to buy you. We just wanted to get you a present and didn't think you had a broom."

Harry nodded, "Well, thank you for that. But like I said in the letter, I already have a broom so I don't need one. I'll be bringing it in the Fall."

James asked, "Do you like Quidditch?"

Harry shrugged, "It's okay, but really, I just like flying. I may try out as a reserve seeker but I don't know. It depends on if the practices interrupt my other activities."

James looked surprised at the seeker comment but ignored it, instead he said, "Well, what are your plans for this summer?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't know yet. I know that I am spending the first few weeks out of Britain. I am going to visit my friend Miku and her family in Hong Kong, then my friend Jammel and his family in the Bahamas. I'll visit a few other friends too, or at least write to them. I know that I am coming back to go on vacation with Hermione. I'm taking her family to the States for a week or so, then back here to Southern France for the last week. I will also visiting Master Sho to catch up on my potions. This year has been very lacking and I need to catch up a bit."

James smirked at the dig towards Snape but Lily was tearful, "Do you think you could come by the manor and visit a bit?"

Harry looked at her for a moment, "Why? Chris and I don't like each other, really my only friends is Hermione and I'll be seeing her for a large portion of the summer. I don't like Neville or the human garbage disposal either. Really, the only Weasleys that I like at Hogwarts are the twins. Bill and Charlie don't live at home anymore so they're out. I think Percy needs to get that stick removed. It has to be painful, all the way up his ass. Ron makes me sick when he eats and is an idiot when he isn't. There would be nothing for me to do. Thank you for the invite, but I will have to decline."

James said, "Well, we were thinking that maybe we could get to know each other again."

Harry shook his head and sighed, "I was trying to be nice. I already told you. I don't want to get to know you again. Stick with Chris, I realized from very early on that I wasn't really welcome in the Potter home, more like a house guest that everyone left alone. I accepted it. Don't try to make up for something you can't. I'm not mad at you. I was, but I'm not anymore, but at the same time, I don't want to get to know you. Please just leave me alone."

With that, he and Hermione walked away, leaving the Potters gaping. Lily was in tears again and James didn't look much better. Harry knew that he was being a hard ass, but he didn't want them around him. It just brought back bad memories. Memories that he had already dealt with and wanted to forget about, that was his old life, he wanted to live his new life.

Soon everyone had boarded the train to London, Harry and Hermione found an empty compartment and quickly settled in for the long trip. Harry warded the door for any unwanted guests and he and Hermione just dozed for most of the way. They occasionally read a book, but mostly just talked about their summer plans. One more than one occasion, they saw Malfoy and his goons walk past their compartment, as well as Chris and the other two stooges

When they pulled into the station Hermione and Harry were the first two off the train. They took their trunks out of their pockets and enlarged them, or Harry did, since he was allowed to use magic outside school. They grabbed a trolley and made their way into mundane London where they met the Grangers. They were telling them about the rest of their year when Harry noticed the two adult Potters along with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin staring at him sadly. He shrugged them off and he and the Grangers made their way out to their car. Harry went with them to their house and had dinner with them. He stayed the night and left in the morning, promising that he would contact Hermione every night and that she could call Gwen anytime she liked to send a message to Harry, and that he would see them the last week of July.

The following morning he Shadow Walked to the alley next to Gringotts and walked inside. He bowed to the guards, who bowed back and made his way into the waiting area. Soon a goblin was escorting him to Ragnok's office.

Ragnok bowed to him and said, "Good Morning, how are you, Mr. Daniels."

Harry responded, "I am well, thank you for asking, Director. How are you doing this fine morning?"

Ragnok smiled, "I am doing quite well. Your vaults are doing quite well, we just bought stock in many muggle companies, one of which is proving to be quite profitable. Microsoft is already a very well known company and seems to be doing even better, you now own 2% of the company, and even with that low amount, you are still making plenty of gold."

Harry nodded, "Thank you for doing so well with my vaults. Now, may I ask a favor?"

Ragnok nodded, "You may."

Harry said, "Could I perhaps buy a Goblin-made Portkey? I know you do not normally sell them but I would be willing to pay nicely for it."

Ragnok smiled, "And why do you not want to use a wizard-made portkey?"

Harry grimaced, "Because they are horribly made. They make me want to vomit and always give me migraines. Not to mention that I would have to answer questions that I don't want the Ministry to know the answers to. It deals with Walker business. I have to report to Shadow about my last year."

Ragnok nodded, "Very well."

He pressed a rune on his desk and a goblin came into his office carrying a gold Galleon.

Harry smiled, "Thank you War Chief Ragnok. You may deduct the cost from my Daniels family vault. May your gold never cease and your enemies tremble in fear." he bowed to Ragnok, then to the goblin who brought the Portkey to him.

Both returned his bow and bid him farewell. In a flash of color, Harry Daniels was gone from Britain. Only to be back the last week of July.

A/N - This is just Part 1 I already have Part 2 started and am working on it as much as I can to have it up ASAP. Please Keep up the Reviews.


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